Still a demand for capacity on the route despite Lufthansa service (200 words)

Published: 10/24/2000

In competition with Lufthansa, in December 2000 Samara Airlines plans to start a route Samara - Frankfurt-am-Maine using a Tu-154M. According to Natalia Kamalova of Samara, the route will be opened as a charter route under contract to an undisclosed customer , but is the airline may decide to make it regular route if the charter proves successful. Kamalova says that the route currently is short of capacity and the Lufthansa service caters to the upper end of the market. She therefore believes that a combination of lower fares and loyal customers will provide the basis of the business. The airline also believes that the route will bring international passengers into their domestic network of 17 destinations, including Ekaterinburg, Tyumen, Nizhnevartovsk, Chelyabinsk, Makhachkala, Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan, Kazan, Balakovo (Saratov region), Kiev and Minsk. The airline is also planning to gain improved utilisation of its domestic Yak-40 fleet and increased load factors by reducing direct flights in favour of interim destinations. According to Kamalova the impact will be to move load factors from 54% on a flight from Samara to Minsk, to 100% for a flight from Samara-Nizhni Novgorod - Minsk.

Article ID: 2147