Airline focuses on domestic and CIS growth

Published: 3/22/2000

Aeroflot is predicting a 10%-15% increase in its domestic passenger volume over 2000. According to Leonid Mokhov, Marketing Director for the CIS, Russia and the Baltics, during January and February 2000, Aeroflot's traffic levels were up by 40% on a year-to-year basis. Last year, the airline handled over 4.5m passengers, of which nearly 1.17m were on domestic flights. Mokhov claims that Russia is witnessing a general trend towards a decline in international travel and a simultaneous rise in domestic travel. This is endorsed by the 1999 FSVT figures, published last month. However, Aeroflot's increasing market share is also due to its aggressive pricing policy in opening up new routes to Russia's regions. Aeroflot says it intends to boost traffic on its existing routes by increasing the frequency of flights and using larger planes, in addition to increasing the number of routes. Aeroflot recently launched a new flight to Ufa and Mineralnye Vody and has announced plans to open flights to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Perm and Yakutsk. It is continuing to pursue its strategy of establishing strategic alliances with Russian and CIS airlines and this may intensify in the context of Aeroflot's desire to become involved in a major global alliance with Air France and Delta Airlines. According to Mukhov, Aeroflot's inclusion in such an alliance is contingent on the expansion of its cooperation agreements in Russia and the CIS. Aeroflot's main Russian partners are Sibir, Pulkovo, Krasnoyarsk Airlines and Dalavia. Air France's intention to establish a global alliance with Delta was announced in mid-1999, following the signing of an exclusive long term strategic agreement, with plans to align procedures and commercial policies more closely, and to extend the cooperation to the cargo sector. It was made clear at that time that the alliance would ultimately involve other founding partners, with a view to building a multi-carrier alliance offering an unsurpassed route network. The national airlines of Mexico and South Korea are also reported to be involved in the accord.

Article ID: 1718