莫斯科2013年10月11日电 /美通社/ — 俄罗斯航空公司集团 (Aeroflot Group) 旗下目前拥有一家名为 Dobrolet 的廉价航空公司。Dobrolet 原先是1923年成立的一家合资企业的公司名，它是现今俄罗斯国际航空公司的前身。
Dobrolet 位于莫斯科地区。这家全新航空公司的机队将拥有可提供一种舱位的波音(Boeing) 737-800NG 型飞机。该廉价航空公司预计将于2014年春季投入运营。在其初期阶段，该航空公司将提供前往俄罗斯欧洲地区最受欢迎目的地的航空服务。
相比于“传统”航空公司，该公司从多个方面使其运输成本降低多达40%。这些方面包括：通过降低座椅与固定靠背之间的倾斜度来增加飞机舱内座位数；仅提供机票直销服务；在选择舒适座椅、托运行李、优先登机和机上用餐方面额外收费；还有望在该公司网站在线预订并提供附加服务。
JSC “Aeroflot” 对这家全新航空公司完全控股。在前两年中，该项目预计投资将近1亿美元。这家航空公司在成立之际将运营8架飞机；机队年度增长规模预计每年平均新增8架飞机。Vladimir Gorbunov 被任命为 Dobrolet 总经理。
Aeroflot 首席执行官 Vitaly Saveliev 表示：“只有在将我们的立法与该全球性产业现行标准协调好之后，这家俄罗斯廉价航空公司才能开展运营。这些制度包括不可退机票、机上用餐费、行李费和主要招募国外飞机驾驶员以减少机长缺口的能力。我们期待今年末出台相对应的立法决策。通过采取这种措施，莫斯科州将会极大地推动这个项目的推出，而该项目对俄罗斯具有如此重要意义。”
* Investments seen at $100 mln in two years
* Ticket prices will be up to 40 pct lower
* Aeroflot is Russia’s largest airline
By Gleb Stolyarov and Megan Davies
MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Russian carrier Aeroflot plans to launch a low-cost airline next year, it said on Thursday, aiming to make air travel more affordable in the world’s largest country with fares up to 40 percent cheaper than its current prices.
Dobrolet, which roughly translates to mean “Goodflight”, will initially focus on domestic routes, starting next year with several destinations for Muscovites including St Petersburg, Samara and Ekaterinburg. But by 2016 it also aims to be flying to Kiev and Istanbul.
“The company (Dobrolet) … should help our passengers, especially less well-off ones, become more mobile,” Aeroflot’s chief executive Vitaly Saveliev told reporters on Thursday.
The demand for travel is rising as the country’s middle class grows and state-controlled Aeroflot said a low-cost airline could successfully compete on price with train tickets in Russia.
Boeing estimates that over the next 20 years air traffic to and from the CIS region of Russia and ex-Soviet states will grow at a rate of 4.4 percent annually and that the number of passengers carried by Russian airlines rose 15.5 percent to 74 million in 2012.
Aeroflot said it will invest $100 million over the coming two years in Dobrolet, at which point it aims for the airline to be profitable even though it said ticket prices are expected to be up to 40 percent less than its current economy class service. The first eight planes will be Boeing 737-800s which will be leased, the company said.
“The routes they plan for this company are popular places in Russia so I think there would certainly be demand if the price is 20-40 percent lower,” said analyst Olga Doronina at VTB Capital.
“This low-cost airline which Aeroflot plans is to fly mainly on domestic routes or to CIS countries (the former Soviet republics), so the main competition will be domestic airlines,” Doronina said, citing Russia’s second-biggest carrier, AK Transaero as a rival.
However, she said that in order to be able to offer the low prices the budget airline wants Aeroflot will have to lobby for legislation to allow it to sell only non-refundable tickets and charge additional fees for food and luggage.
The airline will be Russia’s only low cost carrier. Others which tried and failed were SkyExpress and Avianova, which halted operations in 2011, according to Russian media reports.
UK-based easyJet Plc, Europe’s second-largest low-cost carrier, has also seen an opportunity in the Russian market, launching a service earlier this year between London’s Gatwick and Moscow’s Domodedovo airports.
Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air also flies to Russia, from Budapest.
Aeroflot also reported half-year results on Thursday, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation up 42 percent at $352 million on revenue up 14 percent at $4.1 billion.