S7 Airlines announced the launch of the second low-cost airline in Russia

S7 Airlines announced the launch of its own low-cost carrier - a new carrier of this type will be the second in Russia after Pobeda, reports . RIA Novosti

The head of the board of directors of S7, Tatyana Fileva, said that the airline expects to start flying the new low-cost airline in July 2022. It will operate flights on A320 neo aircraft (capacity - up to 180 passengers). The first cars have already been contracted. According to S7 forecasts, the passenger traffic of the new airline is expected to reach 7.8 million people.

“These will be interregional flights, bypassing Moscow. We will now negotiate with airports,” Filev said at a press conference.

S7 has not yet disclosed the route network of the new airline, as well as its name.

• At the end of 2020, Tatyana Fileva noted in an interview with RBC TV that the Russian aviation market is clearly moving towards the low-cost segment. “And it is clear why - the incomes of the population are not growing. This is the right trend,” said the shareholder of the carrier. At the same time, Fileva noted that the S7 company itself does not see itself in this segment.

• So far, there is only one low-cost airline in Russia - it is Pobeda, a subsidiary of Aeroflot, whose market share has already reached 13.1% (only Aeroflot and S7 have more). Pobeda became one of two Russian airlines that managed to remain profitable in the pandemic year (the other is Azimut).