Transaero: On the Move in Moscow

Transaero recently announced that it plans to split its operations between Moscow Domodedovo (DME) and Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) with a large increase in charter capacity from SVO. Routes News analyses the Moscow Airport system including Vnukovo (VKO) and looks at which carriers are operating where and the non-CIS carriers that each gateway has managed to attract.

With three major airports: Sheremetyevo (SVO), Domodedovo (DME) and Vnukovo, airlines have a fair amount of choice in Moscow.

The table below illustrates the scheduled capacity at the three Moscow Airports:

Source: Flightbase, June 14-20, 2010.

Moscow Domodedovo (DME)

Capacity at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport is largely dominated by two carriers: S7 and Transaero. Between them they operate nearly 47% of all scheduled seats, with S7 being the largest operator with 68,357 weekly seats across a mix of domestic and European services. S7 operates a mainly narrow-body fleet from DME, however does have wide-body equipment in the fleet, with an A310 serving Barnaul in Russia, Yerevan in Armenia and Varna in Bulgaria, a popular tourism spot for Russian tourists. It also has a B767, which serves domestic points such as Sochi, Irkutsk and Novosibirsk.

Thirty carriers operating at Moscow DME are CIS-based carriers, however the airport has managed to attract legacy and flag carriers from outside the CIS.

Routes News has analysed the leading carriers (on the basis of frequency) operating into DME that are based outside the CIS:

Source: Flightbase, June 14-20, 2010

In recent times, DME has also managed to attract carriers from Moscow's other major international airport, Sheremetyevo (SVO), however the ill-fated AirUnion Alliance meant the DME lost capacity in some markets.

Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO)

SkyTeam member Aeroflot is the dominant carrier at SVO, operating out of a dedicated terminal and with a 61% market share of all the airport's scheduled flights. Of the airport's 37 operating carriers, 12 are based in the CIS. There is also a strong SkyTeam presence in the market, with partners such as Air France, Alitalia and KLM, Delta Air Lines also offers long-haul connectivity, with 12 flights from Atlanta and New York JFK and Korean Air operates a four-times weekly route from Seoul Incheon.

SVO also has good connectivity to China with four Chinese-based carriers - China Southern, China Eastern, Hainan Airlines and Air China - offering onward connections to Beijing, Shanghai and Urumqi, which complements Aeroflot's service to Beijing and Shanghai.

The leading non-CIS based carriers at SVO, according to weekly frequency, are summarised:

Source: Flightbase, June 14-20, 2010

Although SVO is considered a SkyTeam airport, it has still managed to retain a number of Star Alliance carriers, such as Turkish Airlines, SAS and LOT Polish Airlines, as well as oneworld members such as Finnair. After having lost traffic to Moscow's Domodedovo, SVO is now attempting to claw back capacity and has succeeded in attracting Russian low-cost operator Avianova from Vnukovo Airport, whose main base is now at SVO. These efforts have been aided by the development of new facilities such as Terminal 3 (now known as Terminal D), which was completed last year.

Vnukovo (VKO) airport

Moscow's 'third' airport, Vnukovo is dominated by UTair, which operates 47% of all scheduled flights there using a mix of ATRs, Tupolev and a B737-500 aircraft. From the 19 based operators at the airport, there are just three non-based CIS carriers: Syrianair, Blue Dart Aviation, which offers charters to Greek destinations, and, interestingly, Germanwings, which operates low-cost services to Cologne, Stuttgart, Hannover and Berlin Tegel.

Moscow Vnukovo had positioned itself as a low-cost airport and had developed a huge facility but having lost Avianova, there will be question marks over how it will fill the terminal capacity.

Which Airlines Serve More than One Moscow Airport?

Of the 98 carriers operating into Moscow, Flightbase schedules data shows that just 10 carriers operate from more than one Moscow Airport, with three carriers, namely Belavia, Transaero and St Petersburg based carrier Rossiya operating from all three.

With Transaero focusing on the outbound leisure market and with no connectivity, it can therefore split operations between SVO and DME and it has the ability to choose from which airport to operate certain routes. The carrier is particularly attractive to these airports as it has a number of B747 aircraft available to serve popular charter routes, with reports that it intends to serve the US and Brazil, as well as resume flights to Australia next year.

For more on Moscow's airport system, make sure you read the latest edition of Routes News: https://www.routesonline.com/news/33/routes-news/78259/routes-news-issue-2010-3/