LCC Pobeda’s net profits decreased by 43 per cent in 2018

Pobeda Airlines enjoys one of the highest seat load factors in the industry. Last year it reached 94.1 per cent (Pobeda)

Pobeda Airlines, Aeroflot Group’s low-cost subsidiary, reports that its net profits for 2018 decreased by 43 per cent to 2.013 billion roubles (US$31 million), even though its revenues climbed by 75 per cent to 35.533 billion roubles (US$547 million), according to Russian Accounting Standards.

“Two fingers would be enough to count the number of [Russian] airlines that reached profitability in 2018, in a year with an unprecedented surge in fuel prices,” states a Pobeda spokesman. “The average fuel price at the airports across [our route] network grew by 37 per cent over the 2017 average. Along with that, the airline also managed to cut its other expenses by increasing aircraft utilisation, implementing new technologies, whilst improving labour efficiency. All this helped [us] close the year with more than two billion roubles of profit.”

Last year, Pobeda, Russia’s only low-cost (LLC) airline, carried 7.184 million passengers, a sparkling 55 per cent improvement on 2017’s numbers.

In the first month of this year and for the first time, the LLC climbed to third place in Russia’s largest airlines league table, having carried 689,100 passengers, 43.7 per cent up year-on-year. It also outperformed its Vnukovo rival Utair in the numbers of passengers carried via Moscow’s base airport. In fact, with a final share of 32.7 per cent, it became Vnukovo’s largest customer.

By the middle of this year LCC Pobeda is planning a 50 per cent fleet increase, bringing its monotype fleet to 30 Boeing 737-800s. The expansion is expected to help achieve its 10 million passengers target for 2019. The airline confirmed its plans to start taking deliveries of the first batch of Boeing 737MAX-8s in November.

The average age of the aircraft in its very young fleet is currently only 2.3 years.