MOSCOW: Russia’s Soviet-era flag carrier Aeroflot unveiled its own budget airline yesterday that will have no reclining seats or business class while promising fares nearly half those charged by the competition.
Aeroflot said its new Dobrolyot carrier — loosely translated as the “nice flight” airline — will fly initially from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and seven other central and southern Russian cities before expanding its horizons.
“By limiting its expenses, the low-coster will be able to compete on prices with trains,” Aeroflot promised in a company presentation. Dobrolyot was the name Aeroflot itself carried in the first eight years of its existence between 1923 and 1930.
The concept of a budget airline could seem dubious in a country where small regional airlines are notorious for their poor flight safety record.
But Aeroflot has taken huge steps recently to improve its image while scooping up several awards for Eastern European service in the process.
Aeroflot stressed that Dobrolyot will keep up with the parent company’s tradition of buying Western planes and steering clear of Russia’s less-trustworthy and inefficient Tupolevs.
Dobrolyot intends to launch operations in mid-2014 flying eight brand new Boeing 737-800s.
These will be fitted out in navy and sky blue livery that has the airline’s name spelled out in Russian across the front.
Aeroflot’s share of the Russian market has slipped to just 40 percent — a far cry from the days in the Soviet era when it proclaimed itself as the world’s largest airline.
But the company has been on an upswing of late thanks to new standards adopted once it became a member of the SkyTeam alliance in 2006. AFP
