Volumes increase by 34.7% (280 words)

Published: 9/22/2000

Vnukovo Airlines (VAL) has reported that in traditionally busy August it carried 175,840 passengers, an increase of 34.7% on August 1999 with the airline's seat load factor rising by 25% year on year, to 84.9%. The reason of the recovery in numbers according to the management is a number of elements including improved punctuality overcoming VAL's historical reputation for being notoriously late in addition to aggressive marketing of the airline's tariff structure. As of March this year the airline offers 4 tariffs for business class and 6 tariffs for economy class and according to company spokesman Alexei Sapkin has proved so successful, VAL have had the strategy copied by other airlines. Sapkin also reports that the company's cargo and mail carried volumes are also improving, but the company does not collect specific data month by month. The airline's cargo business however, is not significant being only carried in their passenger aircraft. Speaking about the airline's eight-month results Sapkin reported that the figures were not very impressive with volumes up by 10%, but added that another team ran the airline for the first past of 1999 and the current management does not consider comparison to be material. Similarly Sapkin would not give detail about the airline's financial performance in the period, other than to comment that the situation had improved markedly from the collapse of revenues in dollar terms in 1999 by 59%.

Article ID: 2085