Tag Archives: VP-BGB

Aeroflot introduces its expanded summer schedule

Aeroflot Russian Airlines (Moscow) on March 30 introduced its summer schedule until October 25, 2014. The airline issued this statement on the highlights of the enhanced schedule:

This summer Aeroflot plans to launch flights to 52 countries, including seven CIS countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine). The route network of Aeroflot comprises 125 destinations (73 outside Russia), including 49 destinations in Europe, 12 in Asia, 7 in America and 5 in the Middle East and Africa.

Aeroflot’s CIS network includes 11 destinations: Baku, Bishkek, Yerevan, Minsk, Tashkent, Kiev, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odessa, and Karaganda.

Aeroflot continues to play a significant role in shaping the structure of Russian civil aviation and further development of the domestic air travel. Thus daily flights will be operated on two new destinations in Russia: Novy Urengoy and Rostov-on-Don. Aeroflot will continue services on routes introduced under the winter season 2013/2014: Moscow – Ulan-Ude and Moscow-Chita.

Including the cities above, Aeroflot’s domestic service embraces 41 the most popular destinations in Russia: Abakan, Anapa, Astrakhan, Barnaul, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Gelendzik, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Magnitogorsk, Mineralnye Vody, Nizhnevartovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhnekamsk, Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk, Orenburg, Omsk, Perm, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Samara, Saint Petersburg, Simferopol, Sochi, Surgut, Tomsk, Tyumen, Ufa, Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and Yakutsk.
Flight frequency will also be increased at the most popular domestic destinations: Saint Petersburg (from 105 to 112 weekly flights), Sochi (from 35 to 42), Krasnodar (from 28 to 41), Samara (from 28 to 35), Nizhny Novgorod (from 28 to 35), Chelyabinsk (from 21 to 28), Nizhnekamsk (from 14 to 21), Anapa (from 14 to 21), Gelendzik (from 7 to 14), Mineralnye Vody (from 7 to 14), Orenburg (from 7 to 14), Tomsk (from 7 to 14), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (from 7 to 10).

Aeroflot’s fleet is growing with deliveries of new long-haul Boeing 777-300 ERs (above), which will provide services to Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Khabarovsk, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, New York (JFK), Beijing, Seoul and Shanghai.

Traditional winter destinations – Innsbruck and Phuket – will be replaced by summer ones like Gelendzik, Heraklion, Thessaloniki, Dubrovnik, Split and Tivat.

Aeroflot network will be strengthened by 109 destinations on which aircraft of Aeroflot Group subsidiary companies will be used. Aeroflot marketing flights will be operated on 116 routes.

During Summer Season 2013 Aeroflot together with its subsidiary companies and code sharing partners will fly to 351 unique destinations in 66 countries, including Russia.

Copyright Photo: Marcelo F. De Biasi/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 777-3M0 VP-BGB (msn 41679) completes its final approach to the runway at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

Aeroflot:

Aeroflot delays the introduction of its first new Boeing 777-300 ER to Bangkok

Aeroflot Russian Airlines (Moscow) is ready to be a Boeing 777 operator again (it previously operated the 777-200). However the Russian flag carrier has delayed the introduction of its first new Boeing 777-300 ER on the Moscow-Bangkok route. The pictured 777-3M0 ER VP-BGB (msn 41679) was handed over to the carrier on January 30. Aeroflot is blaming the delay on the delay of Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) to certify the new type in Russia. The airline issued the following statement:

“On January 30, 2013, after completing all the necessary formalities Aeroflot took delivery of new Boeing 777-300 ER at Seattle manufacturing plant.

According to the statement of the Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia to the mass media, Aeroflot will not get the permission of the Russian aviation authority to start the commercial exploitation of the plane, because until now the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) has not certified Boeing 777-300 ER type aircraft.

Due to this situation Aeroflot has to postpone the launch of the first commercial flight of this aircraft on Moscow-Bangkok route initially planned for February 1, 2013.

Instead of flying on Boeing 777-300 ER Aeroflot will provide services to this destination on Boeing 767-300 and Airbus A330. The passengers on Moscow-Bangkok route, who bought tickets for new Comfort class will be provided with business class tickets.

In order to start the exploitation of the airliner from the mentioned date, Aeroflot has timely completed all the necessary formalities stipulated by the Russian legislation, and therefore the air company will take measures to compensate the caused losses.”

Copyright Photo: Joe G. Walker. VP-BGB is pictured at a wet Everett (Paine Field) prior to the hand over. VP-BGB is seen getting ready to depart on a test flight. The wide-body airliner is named “M. Kutuzov”. According to Wikipedia, “Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (1745-1813) was a Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as one of the finest military officers and diplomats of Russia under the reign of three Romanov Tsars: Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I. His military career was closely associated with the rising period of Russia from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. Kutuzov contributed much to the military history of Russia and is considered to have been one of the best Russian generals under the reign of Catherine II.”

Aeroflot Russian Airlines: