Pobeda climbs up in global ranking

Aeroflot’s low-cost subsidiary has reached the traffic milestone two months earlier than in 2015 (Photo by Leonid Faerberg / Transport-Photo Images)

Pobeda, Russia’s only low-cost carrier, has significantly strengthened its position in the global rating of budget and leisure carriers, produced by Airline Business magazine, climbing the most of any airline in the rankings.

The Moscow, Vnukovo-based airline carried 3.1 million passengers in 2015 – its first full year of operations – and moves up by 29 places to 71^st overall in the authoritative survey. Probeda, which is a subsidiary of the Russian flagship airline Aeroflot, attributes its success to viability of and high demand for the low-cost model in Russia.

Pobeda was launched in late 2014 amid challenging economic conditions and has swiftly built a network of almost 40 destinations. In 2016, the budget airline plans to increase passenger numbers by about a million to carry 4 million passengers. It carried 1.6 million passengers in January-May 2016, twice as much compared to the same period of the previous year.

Currently, LCC operates a fleet of twelve 189-seat Boeing 737-800s. According to plans, by 2018 its fleet will grow to 40 aircraft of the type and annual passenger count will reach 10 million.