BA takes a bullish view of Russian air travel recovery

Published: 2/28/2000

British Airways plans to double its passenger volumes to and from Russia from its current 200,000 according to the company"s regional commercial director Daniel Burkard. It also intends to study the possibility of opening new routes to Ekaterinburg and Rostov-on-Don, in addition to the current destinations of St Petersburg and Moscow. BA has the right to fly to the two additional cities under a bilateral accord and sees the regional access as a means of achieving growth, as volumes return to pre crisis levels. Using its relationship with Aeroflot, the airline claims it can increase from 200,000 passengers a year to 500,000. It appears however, that other airlines are more sceptical of the route"s growth potential, with both Aeroflot and KLM being quoted in the Russian media as saying that the airline was overly ambitious. Aeroflot press director Alexander Luchaninov said in an interview with Kommersant , that in 1999, Aeroflot carried 110,000 passengers on its nine weekly flights from Moscow to London. BA however, carried only 10,000 more passengers during the same period, although it offered 14 weekly flights. Luchaninov does not expect British Airways to be able to attract more than 20,000 new passengers, which will leave them well short of their additional 300,000 passengers. The growth figure does appear very ambitious, but in a country where targets are routinely not met, it has had an impact in terms of BA"s profile. The level of passenger targets, we suspect, are designed to make a media and industry impact and emphasise BA"s commitment to the Russian market, as a potential second UK carrier, allowed under the bilateral agreement, enters the market, with Virgin, currently holder of the rights, possibly leasing its rights to British Midland. Whatever the outcome, BA will have to deliver some of the passenger numbers promised to retain their credibility, particularly with their newfound friend Aeroflot. Given that BA is principally interested in the high paying business customer, the recovery in business will have to have considerable stamina to meet BA"s targets and even then Russian carriers carrying Russian business passengers should guard them jealously, because BA is after them.

Article ID: 1486