Aeroflot considers low cost airline
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Russian airline Aeroflot is considering starting its own low cost airline, according to Russian daily Vedomosti.
The carrier, which has around 40% of the Russian market, will look to enter the budget space from 2014 with services between St. Petersburg and Moscow as well connecting the two main hubs to Russia’s south.
The paper reported that the carrier has plans to eventually branch out to Turkey, Spain and Ukraine with a fleet consisting of around 40 aircraft, starting with Boeing 737s.
However bosses have complained that low budget carriers are dependent on government authorisation, which has been granted to the likes of easyJet and Wizz Air – something that the company’s chief executive Vitaly Savaliey called a “paradox”.
Russian carriers are also forbidden to hire foreign pilots – meaning wages are inflated.
“As long as the law does not change, absolutely nothing is going to fly. We are not going to take the risk,” he said. “Aeroflot is not going to invest US$100 million in a project which is not going to make us money.”
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