Pobeda Airlines is part of the Aeroflot Group, implementing the project of a classic low-cost carrier. The company's work is aimed at increasing the mobility of the population and the transport accessibility of the regions of the Russian Federation. In November 2016, Pobeda entered the TOP 3 of the best airlines in Russia, ranking third in the rating of one of the most popular tourism magazines in the world, National Geographic Traveler. Previously, Pobeda airlines was marked on the international market. The Russian low-cost carrier ranked first in the world in terms of growth among low-cost airlines in the ranking of the global industry publication Airline Business. In addition, the Russian low-cost airline entered the top 10 best airlines in Eastern Europe in the Skytrax World Airline Awards.
Andrey Yuryevich Kalmykov, Director General of Pobeda Airlines, reports: In a short period, Pobeda Airlines became one of the key players in the aviation industry in Russia. Millions of people have been waiting for this project in order to get the opportunity to travel, fly to their friends, relatives and friends at the lowest rates. In just a few years, we transported, just think about this figure, more than two million of our citizens, who for the first time in their lives, thanks to Pobeda, took a plane. Before that, they simply could not afford it. Thus, we are not just a driver for the development of air travel, we are creating a new passenger traffic flow, which actually would not have arisen without us.
Today, in almost all directions our tariffs are 25-30% lower than those of our colleagues in other airlines. And as life has shown, we do not just reduce the prices of air tickets for our customers, we contribute to the fact that on the lines where Victory flies other airlines also have to reduce their fares for their customers.
As I have said, the project is not just expected, but also very popular. And this is evidenced by the highest load of our flights. The average loading of Pobeda aircraft is 97%. Today it is the highest rate among Russian airlines performing regular flights. Pobeda is also a high level of flight safety. We have the youngest fleet in the Russian Federation. It consists of brand new, delivered directly from the manufacturer of the aircraft. The average age of the aircraft slightly exceeds two years.
Let's see what we have achieved in less than 4 years. During the first 9 months of 2018, we carried more than 5 million passengers. Total for the year, we will transport more than 7 million people. And of these 410 thousand tickets will be sold at our most minimal rates - 499 rubles. Here I want to say a big thank you to the Ministry of Transport for finally accepting the new baggage transport procedure, which will allow us to reduce prices. In total, since the beginning of the airline's flights, 1 million 300 thousand people flew with us at the lowest rates.
What else you want to say about our company. We are very effective. We have set an absolute record - the new industry industry standard for flying on one aircraft per day. Today, we fly 13.8 hours per day for each aircraft. According to the corporation, Boeing is the absolute record for all airlines in the world using this type of aircraft.
The minimum turnaround time at airports is 20 minutes. Here, of course, I would like to say a huge thank you to all our partners, first of all the Vnukovo home airport, and to all the other airports where we fly for help, responsiveness, the desire to learn from the best foreign experience and introduce our own innovative technologies in order to minimise time finding the aircraft on the ground.
We are also one of the most punctual airlines in Russia. As you know, this is very important not only for our clients, but also for airports. Everyone knows that they will arrive on time and can count on their time. As for the route network, 35% of our destinations are absolutely unique, on which no other airline operates. We try not only to work in the most sought-after markets, we are creating these new markets, linking cities, between which there have never been any flights at all, or they were stopped more than 20 years ago.
And we are developing not only the Moscow hub, although Vnukovo Airport is very important to us. Right now 46% of our flights are from the regions, bypassing Moscow. This is very important, and we see a great demand for such flights in our country. We have a huge country, the largest country in the world, and you all know perfectly well that people live not only in Moscow, and everyone wants to fly at the lowest tariffs, and we give them that opportunity.
In 2015, we had 10 aircraft, and today it's already 20. During this time, the number of destinations increased from 13 to 85, and the average time that the aircraft spends in the air per day, from 10.7 to 13.8 hours. If in the first year of flights we carried a little over 3 million passengers, then this year there will be more than 7 million. And all this would be impossible without our team. Absolutely all the employees of the Victory are focused on efficiency, on innovation, on the fact that as many people as possible can travel at minimal prices.
We are very effective, including because there are very few of us. We have a very young and dynamic team. On average, the industry standard is one thousand employees per one million transported passengers. It is easy to calculate how much a classic airline would in principle have to have employees on its staff to carry 7 million passengers - 7 thousand employees. We have about 1,300 people in total, of which 210 people are office workers, and 1126 people are flight crews, these are our wonderful pilots and flight attendants. Without our team, we could not achieve anything.
Of course, I would like to say thank you to Vitaly Gennadievich Savelyev, the Chairman of the Board of Pobeda Airlines. Without his personal participation, personal interest in the project, and he really takes this project to heart, as his child, nothing would have happened. Thanks to the Ministry of Transport, the government and, of course, special thanks to Vitaly Vantsev and the entire team of Vnukovo Airport. This airport has become for us a really kind and cozy home that helps us achieve our goals. Here we feel absolutely confident and calm. We are confident in the work of all airport services, we manage to ensure safety of flights, punctuality and minimum turnaround time. Thank you very much, to all partners, colleagues and, of course, to our well-coordinated team.
Deputy Transport Minister Alexander Alekseevich Yurchik: “Today we celebrate success, our Pobeda. As the ship you name, so it will float. And I think this is really a big success, a big victory. I remember how it all began, how many skeptics there were, how many there were people who said that they would not float, would not fly. Today skeptics are confounded. The 5 million milestone is really a big step forward. Because there are new technologies, new approaches, new standards of efficiency. And we must pay tribute to the team of the Aeroflot group, the leaders of the Pobeda airline and the airports with which they work. They have achieved these successes with their real actions, real results that we see with you today. In many ways, this makes it possible to move the whole industry forward, because the company is promoting new effective approaches. For its part, the Ministry of Transport worked to improve the regulatory framework. And I want to say that we will support further movement in this direction. The Ministry of Transport is very interested in the development of just such efficient airlines. Congratulating Pobeda Airlines, Aeroflot Group and its leaders today, I want to wish them new successes, a new movement with climb, and assure that the Ministry of Transport will support them in this. Successes to all of us in this very important matter!”
Vitaly Anatolyevich Vantsev, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vnukovo International Airport: “This is a landmark day for Vnukovo Airport. We are proud that this project was born at Vnukovo Airport, and we are proud to be working together with Pobeda. Indeed, it turned out to be a wonderful product that allowed many people to fly an aircraft for the first time. Pobeda Airlines has opened new air routes for Russians, ensuring decent quality, low fares and excellent regularity. I am sure that we will see many more achievements ahead, and in the coming years we will also meet a ten millionth passenger. I congratulate the Aeroflot group and, above all, the management of Pobeda and the entire workforce of the airline, who are working to make all of us comfortable and affordable to fly. ”
Vitaly Saveliev, General Director of Aeroflot Airlines, the Chairman of the Board of Pobeda Airlines Directors: “Today we can confidently say that this project, this new product, was appreciated by the Russians and it is in demand. Indeed, in terms of a number of indicators, Pobeda is a world champion, which gives us all the opportunity to experience pride. And I would like to note and thank the President of the Russian Federation, without whose support it would not have been possible to implement this project. I want to express my gratitude to the Ministry of Transport, the State Duma, the Government of the Russian Federation for the bills, thanks to which Victory today can successfully compete in the market with foreign low cost posters. Prior to this, unfortunately, this was not possible. Harmonisation of legislation allowed us to create the necessary conditions for success. Congratulations to all Russians, partners of the airline, and especially the management of Pobeda, with excellent results and success. ”
