Pobeda, the low-cost carrier, part of Aeroflot Group, transported its millionth passenger. Anna Bryk, a student at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in Moscow, was the milestone passenger, who bought a ticket for the Moscow-Sochi flight. A solemn ceremony dedicated to this milestone was held at Pobeda’s base airport – Vnukovo.
Russian Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vnukovo airport Vitaly Vantsev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pobeda and CEO of Aeroflot Vitaly Saveliev, and CEO of Pobeda Andrei Kalmykov, took part in the ceremony.
Pobeda performed its first flight on December 1st 2014. It is a successor of Dobrolet low-cost carrier, which started performing flights in June 2014, but was forced to cease its activities in August 2014 due to sanctions imposed by EU. Over this short period of time Dobrolet demonstrated its efficiency and proved that low-cost flights are in demand in Russia. That’s why the Aeroflot Group decided to revive the low-cost carrier under a new brand. With the support of authorities of Russian Federation Aeroflot established Pobeda airline. This name was chosen in honor of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War; it symbolizes mental toughness, power of will and ability of our people to withstand any challenges.
Currently Pobeda performs flights to 34 destinations in Russia and operates a fleet comprising 11 brand-new Boeing 737-800NG aircraft. Following the results of the first quarter of 2015, it made the list of Russia’s top-10 largest airlines. Pobeda is the first successful example of a classic low-cost carrier model in Russia, and is reshaping the country’s domestic aviation industry. The airline offers attractive prices on a number of socially important and popular routes and thus influences the pricing policy of other carriers. According to Aviasales website, it became a leader in terms of prices in the southern part of Russia.
«Today we are celebrating an important milestone — servicing Pobeda’s millionth passenger,» said Vitaly Vantsev. «The airline is growing at high rates, and so does is its home airport, Vnukovo, which is continuing to see rapid increase in passenger traffic. During a period from January to May 2015, passenger traffic grew by 27.9% to 5.668 million. We are pleased to see continued growth on domestic routes, led by Aeroflot Group, which accounts for 27.8% of total passenger traffic at Vnukovo. I would like to thank the management of Aeroflot Group for their faith in Vnukovo as part of the project to develop affordable flights in Russia. I believe that our passengers enjoy flying with Pobeda from Vnukovo!»
«The first million passengers is an important milestone for Pobeda; it confirms that a low-cost carrier is in high demand in Russia and can be successful,» Vitaly Saveliev said. «This project has exceeded our expectations. In less than half a year Pobeda has become one of the 10 largest carriers in the country. The success of this young company is making a key contribution to implementation of Aeroflot Group’s strategy, which focuses on making air travel available to all Russian citizens and increasing social mobility.» According to Saveliev, this year Pobeda plans to reach a passenger traffic of 2,8-3,2 million passengers; by 2018 – up to 10 million passengers per year.