Sukhoi accident does not dent Aeroflot's dominance in Russia

The spectacular crash of Aeroflot's Sukhoi 100, which crashed during an emergency landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, has left more than 40 people dead. The exact circumstances that led to the accident - there is talk of lightning striking the aircraft - and the rescue operations should certainly be clarified. further damage to the reputation of the Sukhoi 100 aircraftthe only Russian-built aircraft used by Aeroflot on domestic and regional routes.

The airline group, which includes Aeroflot and its subsidiaries Rossiya, Podoba and Aurorahas 50 of these aircraft in service and plans to add ten Sukhoi 100s to its fleet this year. The civil aviation authorities have already announced do not nail to the floor the fleet of aircraft in service with Russian airlines. Speaking to journalists at a press conference, Yevgeny Ditrikh, Russia's Minister of Transport, said "that there was no reason for such an action. "

While the accident has had a short-term impact on Aeroflot's flight operations, it is not expected to have any repercussions on the future of the company. The Aeroflot group is in fact the main provider of flights in Russia and remains the largest airline in the country. a key playerand thus enjoy the more or less tacit support of the government.

In a market that grew by 10.7 % in 2018 to 137 million passengers, the Aeroflot group carried nearly 56 million, an increase of 11.1% compared to 2017 and a market share of 40.6 %. Taking only international traffic into account, the Aeroflot group had a market share of 36.3 % in 2018, representing traffic of 24.7 million passengers and growth of 9.7 %.

The Aeroflot group's development programme therefore remains solid. At the beginning of March, the company announced the opening of new routes and adding new aircraft to its fleet. Already during the 2018/2019 winter season, Aeroflot inaugurated new routes from its Moscow hub to Bukhara (Uzbekistan), Osh (Kyrgyzstan), Dublin, Gothenburg, Ljubljana, Colombo and Bali.

This summer, the group launches on Marseillewith five weekly flights, and Palma. Aeroflot is also increasing its frequencies on departure from numerous European cities such as London, Madrid, Tbilisi and Nice, which will be served by 16 weekly flights instead of 9 in 2018. In Asia and the Middle East, the group is also strengthening its routes to Beirut (4 weekly flights instead of 3), Tehran (one daily flight instead of five flights/week) and Ulan Bator (one daily flight instead of three flights/week).

In its strategy to elevate Moscow Sheremetyevo to the rank of major hub between Europe and AsiaThe SkyTeam member airline is also increasing its frequencies to Seoul (14 weekly flights instead of 7) and three daily flights to Beijing (instead of two previously). In total, Aeroflot is offering flights to 159 destinations this summer, including 101 international destinations. Aeroflot is also responsible for marketing its Rossiya Airlines subsidiary. The latter offers routes from St Petersburg to Paris and Nice.

In terms of fleet, the airline has 366 aircraft and a fairly recent fleet which it continues to renew. The long-haul fleet comprises 58 aircraft, including 22 Airbus A330s and 27 Boeing 777s. Two new B777s are joining the fleet this year. The short- and medium-haul fleet comprises 244 aircraft, all of Western design. Most of these are Airbus A319/A320s and A321s (157 aircraft) and 87 Boeing 737s.

The company's main concern in a rapidly expanding market, soaring oil pricesThe company's accounts are being weighed down by the fall in the value of the rouble against the euro and the dollar. Aeroflot posted a profit of 78.33 million euros in 2018, a staggering fall of 75.2 % compared with 2017. Moreover, 2019 does not look good for the company's finances. In the first quarter, the Group recorded a loss of 238 million eurosdouble its losses for the first quarter of 2018, despite a 14.3 % increase in passenger traffic.