In Senegal, boards, in Senegal – Newspaper Kommersant No. 19 (7464) dated 02/02/2023
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According to Kommersant’s information, the Federal Air Transport Agency is asking airlines about their readiness to organize direct flights with a number of African countries and Nepal. Before the pandemic, only a few charters and solo travelers flew there, most often via Europe. But as the borders close since 2020, the interest of Russians in these countries, according to participants in the tourism market, has grown significantly, along with the price of a ticket. Now carriers are not allowed to start flights there due to the shortage of long-haul aircraft that are exempt from double registration: “cleared” liners are actively flying to “friendly” countries, and there are no guarantees for the safety of the aircraft in Africa yet.
According to Kommersant’s information, Rosaviatsia finds out which of the airlines is ready to start flights to East and South Africa.
During January, the agency sent telegrams to carriers asking them if they were interested in direct flights to South Africa (Pretoria), Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as Nepal.
According to a source close to the Ministry of Transport, the idea was also discussed at a meeting with airlines, but “concrete initiatives” have not yet been received. The issue of negotiations with African countries on guarantees for aircraft with dual registration, according to him, has not yet been discussed – “this can happen in the next stage.”
Kommersant’s interlocutors in the two airlines noted that they were ready to consider any of the directions only if there were guarantees for the safety of their double-registered aircraft. Another source in the aviation industry doubts that carriers with “cleared” long-haul liners will move them from “popular and profitable Turkey, Egypt and Thailand.” In addition, in his opinion, among the countries of Africa there are regions that are closely integrated into the Western economy, which “are unlikely to take the risk of accepting ‘uncleaned’ aircraft from the Russian Federation.”
The problem is that wide-body long-haul aircraft with a flight range of more than 6,000–8,000 km traditionally make up a small share of the Russian air fleet.
According to the comprehensive strategy for the development of the aviation industry, for 2022 there were 120 such aircraft in passenger airlines: these are Airbus 330 and A350, as well as Boeing 747, 767 and 777.
A third of the planes (41) are in the Aeroflot fleet, of which the carrier bought ten A330s from financing and also eight B777s, which fly to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, India, Turkey, Thailand, China and the Maldives. Aeroflot, Pobeda and Rossiya did not answer “Kommersant”. But on January 27, the general director of Aeroflot, Sergei Aleksandrovsky, said that as part of the carrier’s comprehensive tour packages, “enfida (Tunisia) may appear.” There are ten Boeing 777s and nine Boeing 747s in the fleet of Rossiya, they do not fly abroad. The press service of Azur Air, which “debermuidized” 14 aircraft, including the Boeing 767-3Q8(ER), said that “the airline is ready to consider any available international destinations that will be in demand from customers of tour operator partners.”
Three long-haul Boeing 767 Utairs fly from Moscow to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Armenia. In November 2020, the carrier launched flights to Zanzibar on them. At the start, a nine-hour flight cost 10 thousand rubles. According to the OneTwoTrip service, four airlines have already flown to Tanzania in 2020-2021: Utair, Nordwind, Royal Flight and Azur Air, round-trip flight prices ranged from 30 thousand to 58 thousand rubles. Now an Oman Air ticket with a one-way transfer in Oman will cost from 65 thousand rubles, Emirates via Dubai – 117 thousand rubles. Until the end of 2019, only NordWind flew to Zanzibar, until March 2020 – Rossiya, both as part of charter programs.
Of the other destinations discussed these years, only Ethiopia was available, where direct flights by Ethiopian Airlines doubled from 49 thousand rubles. both ways in 2019.
The main problem of these “non-mass areas”, according to Kommersant’s interlocutors in the industry, is insufficient commercial loading.
Therefore, before flying to Africa, they flew mainly through Europe (Zurich, Frankfurt and Paris) and the Middle East.
Today, “both airlines and passengers are looking for new points of attraction,” says Dmitry Gorin, vice president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry. In terms of tourism, demand growth prospects are in almost every one of these countries, primarily in Kenya, Mauritius and “partly Madagascar”. Less popular will be Namibia, Zambia and South Africa, which are preferred by solo travelers for safari tours and nature parks. At the same time, according to Dmitry Gorin, reducing the number of available countries from the pre-Covid 69 to 32 can increase the attractiveness of the most unexpected destinations. So, in 2019, according to the FSB border service, only 6.4 thousand Russians visited Zanzibar, in 2020 after the removal of covid restrictions – almost 50 thousand, and in 2021 – already 82 thousand people.
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