DATA SPOTLIGHT: Pobeda

20 October, 2020

This year the Corporate Travel Community (CTC) will feature some of the leading airlines, airports and country markets for air travel. Here, using the extensive profile insights available to CAPA - Centre for Aviation members to deliver a data snapshot at where they sit today in the Covid-19 impacted world, we look at Pobeda, one of the few major airlines in the world to record growth in passenger levels in 3Q2020.

The performance is supported by Russia's domestic market, which is Europe's largest and was back above 2019 capacity levels in Aug-2020. Pobeda's growth also demonstrates the importance of low cost short/medium haul operations in a recessionary environment and one with only limited long haul opportunities.

There is a strategic focus within the Aeroflot Group on continuing to grow the low-cost segment. Pobeda, as Aeroflot's LCC operation, is seeing a more important role within the Group. Having been totally grounded in Apr-2020 and May-2020, its has subsequently performed better than the group overall in terms of passenger growth this year.

In 1H2020 Pobeda's passenger numbers fell by -35.8% year-on-year, compared with a reduction of -54.2% for Aeroflot Group. In Jul-2020 Aeroflot Group reported a similar fall - of 54.5% - but Pobeda's passenger numbers were +1.6% higher than in Jul-2019, making it the only significant European airline to achieve positive traffic growth. This growth was achieved entirely in the domestic market. Its 1.0 million domestic (and total) passengers in Jul-2020 were 27.1% more than its domestic numbers a year earlier.

Aeroflot Group is already looking beyond the recovery into the medium to long term. It aims to more than double annual passengers to 130 million by 2028, with Pobeda significantly the group's main growth driver. The airline's annual traffic is targeted to increase from 10 million in 2019 to between 55 million and 65 million in 2028. This means average annual growth of 22% pa. The pre-crisis passenger target for Pobeda was 25 million to 30 million by 2023.

ABOUT
Based at Moscow Vnukovo Airport, Pobeda is a low-cost subsidiary of the Aeroflot Group. The LCC was established on 01-Dec-2014 after Dobrolet, Aeroflot Group's first low-cost subsidiary, was blacklisted by the European Union and effectively grounded in Aug-2014. Pobeda operates services to domestic destinations across Russia and international services across Europe.

GLOBAL RANKING (as at 19-Oct-2020)

NETWORK MAP (as at 19-Oct-2020)

DESTINATIONS (as at 19-Oct-2020)

CAPACITY SNAPSHOT (versus same week last year)

ANNUAL PASSENGER TRAFFIC (2015-2020YTD)

ANNUAL CAPACITY (2012-2020*)(NOTE:The values for this year are at least partly predictive up to 6 months and may be subject to change)

WEEKLY DOMESTIC CAPACITY (2017 - 2020*)(NOTE:The values for this year are at least partly predictive up to 6 months and may be subject to change)

WEEKLY INTERNATIONAL CAPACITY (2017 - 2020*)(NOTE:The values for this year are at least partly predictive up to 6 months and may be subject to change)

CAPACITY SPLIT BETWEEN DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS (w/c 19-Oct-2020)

LARGEST NETWORK POINT (w/c 19-Oct-2020)

BUSIEST DOMESTIC ROUTES BY CAPACITY (w/c 19-Oct-2020)

LARGEST INTERNATIONAL MARKETS BY COUNTRY (w/c 19-Oct-2020)

BUSIEST INTERNATIONAL ROUTES BY CAPACITY (w/c 19-Oct-2020)

DEPARTING SYSTEM SEATS BY CLASS (w/c 19-Oct-2020)

AVERAGE FLIGHT LENGTH (w/c 19-Oct-2020)

FLEET SUMMARY (as at 19-Oct-2020)

AVERAGE FLEET AGE FOR IN-SERVICE AIRCRAFT (as at 19-Oct-2020)

MORE INSIGHT...

Pobeda's return to traffic growth points way for Aeroflot Group

Aeroflot chief calls for 'LCC airports' in Russia - are they needed?

Russia now Europe's #1 airline market, thanks to domestic size

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