Ural Airlines wants to fly from Chelyabinsk not to Harbin, but to Beijing

Ural Airlines (UAL) has closed the Chelyabinsk-Harbin flight, which it launched a year ago with the financial support of regional authorities. The carrier explained its decision by saying that it intends to launch a direct flight to Beijing in the spring of 2013, which will be more economically profitable. Chelyabinsk authorities say they will continue to support the opening of new flights as far as possible. Analysts note that authorities should not focus only on business routes, but support those that combine the transportation of business passengers and tourists.

According to the press service of Ural Airlines, the company has closed the direct regular flight Chelyabinsk - Harbin, which was launched a year ago. One of the reasons for this decision was UAL’s intention to launch a direct flight from Chelyabinsk to Beijing from March next year. “Currently, preparation and approval of documents for the launch of the flight are underway,” the company said. Kommersant's interlocutor, familiar with the company's position, noted that the closure of the flight was also influenced by the complete abolition of its subsidies from the regional budget. “The flight was profitable, but there was no longer the necessary safety net. Now it is more economically profitable for the company to launch a second frequency on this route from Yekaterinburg, thereby covering the existing demand and residents of the Chelyabinsk region,” noted Kommersant’s interlocutor.

Last fall, UAL, with the support of the Chelyabinsk authorities, launched two direct international flights - to Harbin and Vienna, the losses from which, in case of underload, were covered from the regional budget. This is the first time in Russia that a transportation subsidy scheme has been applied to international flights. In 2011, 42.8 million rubles were allocated for these purposes. In February this year, the company announced that the flight to Harbin had reached the limits of profitability and its subsidies had ceased. The commercial load on flights to Vienna did not exceed 30%, as a result of which the authorities stopped subsidizing them, and the carrier closed this route in July of this year. Under the subsidy scheme, the airline UTair, which has received permission from the Federal Air Transport Agency to operate regular flights on the route Chelyabinsk - Munich, may begin flying from Chelyabinsk next spring. The flight is expected to operate twice a week. The company explains the need to subsidize the flight as an opportunity to make the flight more affordable. There are no results of negotiations with the authorities on this issue yet.

The governor's office emphasized yesterday that, to the extent possible, they will continue to support the introduction of direct international flights. “We initially did not hide the fact that we were doing this to attract investors who currently do not have the opportunity to fly to Chelyabinsk, but do it, for example, through Yekaterinburg and then get to Chelyabinsk for two hours on a bad road,” the interlocutor recalled to Kommersant. According to him, the authorities will support such flights as far as is feasible for the budget. “Of course, the main thing is that these flights should be seriously calculated economically, but the fact that we will introduce new flights whenever possible and, possibly, subsidize them is unambiguous,” the governor’s administration noted.

Industry analyst at IFC Metropol Anna Dolaychuk notes that regional authorities are now actively working on the market to redistribute the transit flow that goes through the Moscow air hub to direct international flights from the regions. “Most likely, in the Chelyabinsk region there is a search for an optimal route that could bring income to the company and cover the real needs for international transportation. Routes are being opened to understand whether they will be in demand and what the flow will be. This is necessary to begin to develop international air transportation from the region,” the analyst believes. At the same time, she added that local authorities should not focus on business transportation, but look for routes that would combine the transportation of business passengers and tourist flows.

Tatyana Drogaeva

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