Russian airlines sharply reduce number of flights to occupied Crimea

Russian airlines have drastically reduced the number of flights to occupied Crimea; the capacity of flights from Russia to occupied Crimea planned this summer has decreased by 22.2%, or by 551,000 passengers.

Russian airlines plan to transport 2.1 million passengers on Crimean routes against 2.7 million people in 2017, the Russian daily Kommersant wrote, referring to the Transport Clearing House.

As reported, this was caused by a number of factors: from the opening of the so-called Crimean bridge (the Kerch Strait bridge) to a sharp increase in Simferopol airport fees (by 1.5-2 times).

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The steepest decline in the capacity of flights is reported by Ural Airlines (by 187,000 seats, or 39%), Red Wings Airlines (by 64,000 seats, 27%), Aeroflot (by 51,000 seats, 14%), Rossiya Airlines (by 74,000 seats, 13%), and Globus Airlines, which is included in S7 Airlines, (by 42,000, 13%).

According to a source of the publication, the airlines began to realize that flights to occupied Crimea are not profitable, and they are not going to increase the flight capacity. The reasons are fuel price hikes in Simferopol and increased fees at the city's airport from June 1.

Ural Airlines said that the cost of servicing a flight soared by 50%. Nordwind Airlines will have to reduce the number of flights to Simferopol by 33.4% in the next season, as well as to increase prices of tickets. Nordavia considers the situation with the increased fees to be "threateningly critical" and speaks of a decline in demand in the southern directions. Aeroflot promises to fly to Crimea according to the previously announced schedule due to the flat tariff program, the publication said.

Simferopol Airport says that the growth in the fees is linked with the need to repay RUB 32 billion in investment in new infrastructure.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ukrainian SBU Security Service blocked the illegal sale of air tickets for flights from Russia to temporarily annexed Crimea. Certain commercial structures in Kyiv and Odesa were illegally selling air tickets of Russian airlines from Russian cities to Simferopol and back.