Yekaterinburg earmarked for development (251 words)

Published: 7/4/2001

During his visit on 26th June to Yekaterinburg to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Aeroflot's regular passenger flight Moscow-Yekaterinburg, Valery Okulov, General Director of Aeroflot, has continued to promote the development of regional hubs in Russia, outlining ongoing plans for Rostov-on-Don, followed by Samara, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, and Khabarovsk. He said particular attention was being paid to the concept of an Urals' regional airline, based on Yekaterinburg's Uralsky Airlines. Discussions are taking place with Eduard Rossel, Governor of Sverdlovsk region. Aeroflot is due to start joint tickets with Uralsky shortly. At a press conference during the visit, Okulov commented that Russia needed to develop regional hubs, gathering passengers for long distance flights to Moscow or other centres elsewhere in Russia or in the Far East and South East Asia. He pointed out that the present system of small airlines serving all destinations was unviable and it often made more economic sense for passengers to arrive at hubs by rail. Not surprisingly, Rossel stated that he saw Yekaterinburg's Kolstovo Airport as becoming one of these hubs served by a regional airline linking up with the major carriers. His stance is supported both by the Presidential administration in the form of Victor Basargin, the Deputy Presidential Representative in Urals Federal region, the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Transport. Aeroflot currently makes seven Boeing-737 and five Tu-134 flights to Yekaterinburg each week, with an average load factor of 81-83%, according to the airline.

Article ID: 2620