In 2015, Russian airlines may sharply reduce flights to Crimea
Simferopol, September 02 (PolitNavigator, Evgeny Andreev) – In 2015, Russian airlines plan to reduce the number of flights to Crimea by 39,1%.
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The Kiev publication Capital writes about this.
According to the profile website flightmapsanalytics.com, Capital notes, in July Russian air carriers intended to make 851 flights to Simferopol.
It is expected that Aeroflot will retain its leadership in flights to Crimea, but the number of flights will decrease - from 510 to 310. The most serious, almost tenfold, drop is expected for Ural Airlines - to 13 flights. An increase in the number of flights - by 16,7%, to 217 - is currently planned only by VIM-Avia.
According to flightmapsanalytics.com, in July 2014 the number of flights to Crimea was 1398, which is 60,9% more than the total number (from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Germany, etc.) for the same period in 2013. And the number of Russian flights increased even more - 2,8 times.
Rosaviatsiya told Capital that thanks to air travel subsidy programs, 12 airlines operate flights to Simferopol with a significant discount on tickets for passengers.
It is more profitable for Russia to stabilize the situation with ground transport than to subsidize airlines flying from Russia to Crimea, says Anatoly Mazurenko, executive director of Aerojet airline. In May, the Russian government estimated its costs for subsidies to air carriers at 700 million rubles. ($ 20 million).
The air transportation subsidy program for 2015 has not yet been adopted, so airlines are not increasing the number of planned flights, noted, in turn, aviation market expert Sergei Khizhnyak. But an employee of the Federal Air Transport Agency, who wished to remain anonymous, assured Capital that the number of flights will increase.
“The slotting of flights eleven months in advance is an obvious indicator of their demand and the interest of Russian airlines in operating flights to this region. It seems that 850 flights are less than half of the volume of passenger traffic that will be carried out next year,” the source said.
A statement from the Ural Airlines press service indicates that the schedule for 2015 has not yet been drawn up.
It is now very difficult to make long-term forecasts regarding flights to Crimea, since these plans are greatly influenced by politics, notes Anatoly Mazurenko.
If the confrontation between Moscow and Kyiv intensifies, the West may impose tough sanctions against Russian airlines for flying to Crimea, he emphasized.
“Then the volumes will completely collapse,” the expert warns.
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