Flydubai expands its network in Russia

Whereas European airlines withdraw their destinations in Russia and cut frequencies, Arab carrier Flydubai has launched two more destinations: three flights a week to Novosibirsk and twice a week to Nizhny Novgorod.

There are now ten Russian destinations in Flydubai’s route network. Besides the two new ones, the airline flies to Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnodar, Mineralnye Vody, Rostov, Samara and Ufa.

“Our research  has shown that direct air links are one of the main reasons our passengers from Russia choose to fly with us: 29% of Economy Class and 45% of Business Class passengers,” Jeyhun Effendi, senior vice president commercial of Flydubai commented. He pointed out, that ever since the launch of operations to Russia five years ago the company has been seeing the demand for direct flights between the two countries, and will be committed to further expanding its network on the Russian market. He expects the new connections to “open new travel opportunities for passengers from both countries.

The Dubai airline’s master-plan calls for opening connections with all cities with population of over 1 mln, RIA-Novosti newswire cites Effendi. Today 90% of that plan has been made reality. The carrier’s next move is yet unknown, it could be St. Petersburg, Cheliabinsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Voronezh or Volgograd. However, to get access to these destinations Flydubai will have to receive additional approvals, which is subject to ongoing negotiations with the aviation authorities, according to Effendi.

The top-manager did admit, that the traffic on Russian routes has plummeted about 40% this year. However, the airline is taking advantage of other carriers fleeing the market and removing their offers. Although the frequencies had to be cut, the operator tried to preserved the variety of destinations. It also emphasizes that thanks to interline agreements with other carriers Flydubai’s passengers have access to over 250 world destinations with connection in Dubai.

Other Arab airline, Emirates replaced A380 with a smaller Boeing 777 on its flights to Moscow. However it has announced recently that it will add capacity on the route from Dubai to St. Petersburg, by replacing Airbus А330-200 with a Boeing 777-300ER, after October 25.