Domodedovo Airlines delivers strong ten month performance

Published: 12/28/1999

The Air Transport Association has reported unexpectedly strong ten-month figures for 1999 for Moscow based Domodedovo Airlines with no explanation from the company other than that they are operating more efficiently. The company did however, comment that they had started to sell their tickets directly and had seen a pickup in volume as they had broken with their traditional distribution system. The airline has also cancelled a number of low load factor routes and increased frequency on some of their higher factor routes, although they were not specific about which routes. The figures are particularly strong when contrasted with those of the other major Moscow carrier Vnukovo. In the first ten months of 1999 the airline increased its number of passengers carried by 18.3%, the growth coming from domestic travelers, who grew by 32.1% in the period to 398,500 compensating for a decline of international passengers to 93,500, a fall of 18.3% on the same period in 1998. Cargo traffic showed a significant up swing as it has for a number of operators rising to 18500 tonnes up by 29.5%, with the primary growth coming from domestic activity, although international business, which represents 37% of the carrier"s business growing by 16.9%. The explanation given by the company for the improvement in performance is better agents gathering business for the airline and competitive tariffs. What impact the competitive tariffs had on profitability was not mentioned.

Article ID: 1255