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Russia has been hit hard by the pandemic, but compared to some countries its airline capacity has held up well and people have continued to travel, at least domestically, although international travel remains as difficult there as it is anywhere.
While this peculiar situation has promoted two of Moscow’s airports into the top three in Europe in 1Q2021, it is the regional airports that are witnessing the largest increases in capacity – in many cases exceeding comfortably not only the capacity recorded in 2020, but also in 2019 as well.
These regional airports are almost exclusively handling domestic flights, and that makes the overall seat capacity gains even more surprising. What is more, this degree of activity is helping put important regional cities like Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar back on the map again, and also the resort town of Sochi, two to three years after they received exposure during the World Cup, which will do them no harm.
What will do them harm is a return of the virus in another one of its many guises, and Russia may be teetering on the edge of that outcome.
This report examines the current status of 10 airports: four in Moscow, one in St Petersburg and five others.
The Russian Federation is now Europe's biggest aviation market by seats, having recovered 82% of its 2019 capacity in the week of 07-Jun-2021. By contrast, Europe's historical leader, the UK, has recovered only 19% and now ranks seventh.
Russia's performance has been strengthened by its domestic market, the largest in Europe, which is back above 2019 levels of capacity and traffic.
Total passenger numbers (domestic and international) carried by Russian airlines were back to 77% of 2019 levels in Apr-2021, the most recent month for which data are available, compared with approximately 20% for Europe as a whole.
Russia's leading airline, Aeroflot, carried only 45% of pre-crisis traffic in Apr-2021, but its regional subsidiary Rossiya carried 80%. Remarkably, its LCC Pobeda was 33% above Apr-2019 passenger numbers.
The US airport privatisation process, which began in 1996 as a pilot programme and was dragged screaming into the 21st century in 2019 by way of a revamped procedure, remains in limbo. At the same time, the number of public-private deals to build and operate airport infrastructure has been increasing quickly.
Now a small, secondary level airport in Connecticut, with a handful of air services each week, has come up with an innovative deal with its existing operator to build a runway extension and associated infrastructure to service the needs of a start-up low cost carrier based on the other side of the country, and with that operator taking on much of the risk.
For all parties it is either a masterstroke or a disaster waiting to happen.
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Emirates Airline announced (17-Jun-2021) it will activate over 30 of its A380 fleet in summer 2021, supplementing Boeing 777 operations on 129 weekly frequencies. The carrier plans to deploy A380 aircraft on the following 15 destinations during the period:
Porter Airlines announced (17-Jun-2021) plans to further delay its resumption of services until 03-Aug-2021, "due to ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions". The airline previously aimed to resume services from 20-Jul-2021. [more - original PR]
Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation, via its official website, reported (17-Jun-2021) the following traffic highlights for May-2021:
PAL Holdings reported (17-Jun-2021) the following financial highlights for the 12 months ended 31-Dec-2020:
*Based on the average conversion rate at PHP1 = USD0.02016
Bamboo Airways announced (17-Jun-2021) it will commence preparations to trial the IATA Travel Pass app on international services in the coming months. Bamboo Airways aims to establish an airport area for checking the compliance of passengers and providing governments with valid information to ensure safe travel. The airline expects the IATA Travel Pass "will be the cornerstone of the international route reopening" and particularly the operation of nonstop Vietnam-US services. [more - original PR]
Lufthansa Group announced (17-Jun-2021) the German Federal Aviation Authority issued an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) to Eurowings Discover on 16-Jun-2021. The carrier will make its inaugural scheduled flight on 24-Jul-2021, operating from Frankfurt to Mombasa with onward flight to Zanzibar. Additional destinations for the carrier under the summer 2021 flight schedule include Punta Cana and Windhoek in Aug-2021, followed by Las Vegas and Mauritius in Oct-2021. Before the start of long haul operations at the end of Jul-2021, Eurowings Discover plans to operate selected continental flights as wet lease for Lufthansa Group airline Air Dolomiti from mid-July-2021 in order to gradually ramp up operations and ensure a smooth start on long haul routes. Eurowings Discover is also the first airline in Germany to receive an unlimited permit under a new aviation law requirement known as partial CAMO (Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation). The carrier's fleet will consist of a maximum of 11 aircraft by the end of 2021, growing to 21, comprising 10 A320s and 11 A330s, by mid 2021. All aircraft are coming from to the Lufthansa Group fleet pool. [more - original PR]