Aeroflot cooking Transaero’s hare

As of October 12, of all passengers that hold Transaero tickets for flights before December 15, Russian airlines have served 86.9%, Aeroflot Group said in a statement. This translates to 1.7 mln passengers already served and 254,700 awaiting their flights.

The carrier did not specify, what it takes as an anchor point in the Transaero passenger count in its report. The group took over the operational control of Russia’s second largest airline on September 3.

Only during one day, October 11, the carriers, including Transaero itself, served nearly 22,000 passengers. Along with that, over 50 flights were cancelled. The schedule is arranged for one or two days in advance. Interviewed by Kommersant Daily, Aeroflot’s top-manager Vitaliy Saveliev explained, that the period until October 20 appears to be the toughest for the airline. “During this period we’ll continue operating Transaero’s aircraft. All passengers that hold tickets, will fly. We’ll take care of 90-95% of all Transaero’s passengers before October 15,” Saveliev said. However, as a result of an unscheduled audit initiated by Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, Transaero’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC) may be called off.

Aeroflot guaranteed service to all Transaero’s passengers before December 15. After that date the customers will receive a full refund for their unused tickets. The most distant date of a ticket currently purchased is April 25, 2016 (458,000 passengers, all-in-all).

According to Saveliev, should Transaero leave the market, Aeroflot Group’s traffic will grow by over 9 mln passengers. In 2014 Transaero’s traffic was round 13 mln passengers, Aeroflot’s- over 25 mln. The rest of the traffic will be picked by other airlines, Saveliev said.

In regards to the destinations, they will be divided among a number of Russian carriers. Aeroflot’s network overlaps that of Transaero’s anyway, Saveliev noted, with the exception of Middle Asia. Along with that, the group practices a different business model, with charter flights accounting to less than 1%.

Other carriers – Utair, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines, NordStar and Vim-Avia – participate in serving Transaero’s passengers as well.