Aeroflot will create three new regional bases for overflying Moscow

Aeroflot Group will open three new regional bases by 2030 in addition to the existing hubs in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk. This was told to journalists by the airline’s CEO Sergei Aleksandrovsky on January 27 at the presentation of the carrier’s new strategy until 2030.

It is assumed that the bases in the south of Russia (Sochi, Minvody) and in the Far East (Khabarovsk, Vladivostok) will be put into operation in 2022-2023, and the base in the Volga region or in the Urals will open in 2025-2026. The passenger traffic of these regional bases, excluding flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg in 2030, should reach 7 million passengers, follows from the presentation of the carrier’s strategy (Vedomosti has it).

The fundamental difference between the operating base and the hub is in the share of transfer traffic, explains Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of Aviaport. According to him, the hub is formed where there is an intersection of traffic flows and it is convenient to connect flights. Operational bases are formed in cities that independently generate large flows of passengers. Therefore, in the first case, the proportion of “transfer” passengers is larger, in the other – “direct”. But the operating base can eventually turn into a hub, and the hub, due to circumstances, can turn out to be a “dead end” and become an operating base, the expert explained. “The main idea of ​​creating new regional bases is for Aeroflot to master flows from region to region, bypassing Moscow,” says Panteleev.

At the end of 2022, the total traffic volume of Aeroflot Group airlines (including Aeroflot, Rossiya, Pobeda) amounted to 40.7 million people, which is 5.1 million less than a year earlier. What part of the passengers fell on domestic, and what on international lines, Aeroflot did not specify. At the same time, the company noted that against the backdrop of Western sanctions in 2022, the group focused on the normalization of operations, the restoration of passenger traffic on domestic and accessible international routes. After the start of the NWO in Ukraine, the EU countries and the United States closed the sky for Russian airlines. Russia responded in kind.

At the end of 2023, Aeroflot intends to increase the group’s passenger traffic to 43.5 million passengers, Alexandrovsky said. According to him, the management is going to achieve this result, including through plans to transport more than 3 million passengers in 2023 both within Russia and to international destinations (Turkey, Egypt, Phuket) as part of a “comprehensive tour package”. Aleksandrovsky explained that this means a package of services, which includes flights, transfers, accommodation, and so on. Previously, Aeroflot carried out such transportation, but infrequently, this direction will be strengthened, the top manager emphasized.

By 2030, according to the group’s long-term strategy, passenger traffic will grow to 65 million people. That is, Aeroflot is going to exceed the pre-Covid indicators of 2019, when the group’s passenger traffic amounted to 60.7 million people. The annual increase in passenger traffic for the group from 2022 to 2030 should be 6%, which will ensure the growth of the market share from 40 to 50%, follows from the materials of the Aeroflot strategy.

Aeroflot has closed most of its international destinations, so their fleet, volume and ambitions are now directed to the domestic market, said Fyodor Borisov, an expert at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

Siberia Airlines has two hubs – in Moscow and Novosibirsk, the expert gave an example. Aeroflot, in turn, “wants to take the number” – to distribute aircraft throughout the country, which under today’s conditions is quite logical, Borisov believes. At the same time, it will be difficult for the Krasnoyarsk hub to compete with the Novosibirsk hub, the expert believes. As for the cluster of the Volga region and the Urals, Samara or Kazan can become the base there, Borisov believes. “Aeroflot is partly building a hub model, that is, a point to point model will be developed. For passengers, this is rather good news: it means that the number of internal lines will increase, which is likely to have a positive impact on tariffs,” the expert concluded.

There is a groundwork for creating a base in the south, since flights from there are already being carried out by the Aeroflot group via the international network on Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, Panteleev recalled. According to him, the south of Russia (Sochi and Minvody), in the face of restrictions on international traffic, will attract tourist traffic, plus this base “became a springboard” for flights to the Middle East.

In the Far East, Aeroflot used to cooperate with Aurora, which was in the Aeroflot group, the expert explains. Some Aurora flights are still operated under the Aeroflot code SU, and sales are controlled by Aeroflot itself, says Panteleev. Therefore, in general, Aeroflot is present in the Far East, but now in partnership with Aurora. The Far East cluster will provide not only communication between the Russian Far East and the central part of the country, but also links with the foreign Far East, the expert believes.

The development of the Volga-Ural cluster is not a momentary task, Panteleev noted. In 2022, traffic at the airports in this region did not grow. The need for basing aircraft here will arise as flows form between the region and the Far East, Siberia and the south of the country. Therefore, the development of the cluster has been postponed in time, the expert summed up.

It is noted that Aeroflot’s strategy will be implemented subject to the commissioning of 339 domestic aircraft (AC) by 2030. That is, the group’s aircraft fleet by the end of the decade should be 500 units with a share of domestic aircraft of 70%.

So far, Russian aircraft manufacturers represented by the United Aircraft Corporation (part of Rostec) have only signed an agreement of intent with Aeroflot for the supply of 339 aircraft. This was at the Eastern Economic Forum back in early September 2022. According to the document “Aeroflot» on a lease basis from 2023 to 2030 will receive 210 MS-21 aircraft, 89 Sukhoi Superjet New aircraft and 40 Tu-214 aircraft. It was noted that the first two SSJs will be handed over to the airline next year, and the delivery of the first MS-21 and Tu-214 is scheduled for 2024. The first firm contract for two Superjet aircraft, according to Aleksandrovsky, should be signed in December 2023.