Far Eastern airline opens up old Aeroflot route to Singapore from Khabarovsk

Published: 12/28/1999

Commenting on their new route to Thailand and Singapore from Khabarovsk, Alexander Ishutko, head of international flights at Khabarovsk based Dalavia, said that they had found the route profitable when they operated under the Aeroflot banner and saw no reason why it should not be under Dalavia. Although they had decided to add the Thai stop to improve load factors. Dalavia are using an Il-62 on the route laid out in two classes, and although the first two flights had relatively low load factors, Ishutko reported that the flights on 22nd of December and 29th of December were fully booked, with most passengers being Russian tourists although a few foreigners were transiting on to Australia. Flying to a number of destinations internationally including Korea and Japan, Dalavia has recently had to stop its flights to the US, as its Il-62s do not meet US noise standards, although according to the airline, the route had also experienced low traffic over recent months. Elsewhere, the airline is optimistic about the prospects offered by a recent intergovernmental agreement with China, which will allow them to fly to Guanchzhou giving them access to Southern China and Hong Kong. More generally, the airline said on international routes they experienced a dramatic fall in traffic last year and in 1999 were still seeing numbers fall, but at a slower rate. The airline said that it was currently interested in potentially leasing either the Tu-204 or 214, and had an investment plan, which includes leasing 2 Tu-204-100 in addition to the reconstruction of the runway and communications equipment. Dalavia is a state unitary enterprise including airline, airport and maintenance facility. The airline remains close to Aeroflot and said they were considering a broad range of potential cooperation including acting as a regional hub for the flag carrier.Although earlier reports in June had suggested that the scale of the cooperation was significantly more comprehensive.

Article ID: 1245