Russian S7 Airlines and Tolmachevo International Airport will Develop a Hub in Novosibirsk

On 11 May S7 Airlines and NOVOSIBIRSK International Airport held a joint press conference on the program for the development of interregional services and transport accessibility of Siberian cities.

The speakers were General Director of S7 Group Anton Yeremin and General Director of JSC Airport Tolmachevo Yevgeny Yankilevich.

Anton Yeremin reported on the program for the development of the airline interregional services, which is characterized by the active use of the Novosibirsk airport as a hub on routes between the cities of southern Russia, Siberia, Far East and Central Asia as well as the use of a new type of regional aircraft Embraer 170. As part of this program S7 Airlines will operate flights to Tyumen, Salekhard, Gorno-Altaisk, Novy Urengoy, Noyabrsk, Omsk, Abakan and others.

“Embraer 170 is an aircraft of optimum capacity for such flights. It is designed to transport 78 passengers. With its help during the summer season we open a large number of new destinations from Novosibirsk, which naturally complement our route network. When scheduling we took into account suitable connections in Novosibirsk so that passengers from these cities could gain access to Russian and foreign cities of S7 Airlines route network”, noted Anton Yeremin.

General Director of S7 Group Anton Yeremin added that in 2017 the airline is planning to receive Airbus A321neo aircraft, which should allow, among other things, to expand the flight geography from Novosibirsk in the future.

The work is currently under way with the airport to improve the quality of connecting flights schedule by increasing the flight frequency on many regional and mainline routes. Actually, at least 3 average daily waves of arrivals and departures, which ensure connections between the cities of the Far East, China, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and European part of Russia, have been formed.

“Thanks to our cooperation we count on increase in number of airport transfer passengers, which will exceed 1 million people at the end of 2017 and their share will amount to 24% of total passenger traffic and will reach the figures of the Moscow Air Transportation Cluster airports, noted General Director of the airport Yevgeny Yankilevich. This will have a positive impact on the strengthening of the role of Novosibirsk as one of the largest Russia’s hubs”.

The speakers stressed that it was the first time when market players joined their efforts to fundamentally improve transport accessibility of the cities of Siberia and the north of Russia. The airline and airport leaders intend to actively participate in all federal support programs for domestic flights and also count on active support of the leaders of Siberian regions in routes co-financing.

General Director of the airport Yevgeny Yankilevich noted that regional air service was a complex business and expressed the hope that joint efforts could bring this product to a fundamentally new level with affordable through fares.

A new aircraft in the S7 Airlines fleet, regional single-aisle Embraer 170-LR in the new livery of the airline, was also presented to the press conference participants.

NOVOSIBIRSK International Airport (Tolmachevo) is the largest air hub in Russia east of the Urals on major transit routes between Europe and Asia. The capacity of domestic terminal makes up to 1,800 passengers per hour, while the international terminal capacity – up to 1300 passengers per hour. The airport has two runways of ICAO I and II Categories. In 2016 passenger traffic of the airport exceeded the mark of 4 million passengers.

S7 Airlines (brand name of SIBERIA Airlines, www.s7.ru) is a member of the global aviation alliance oneworld®. S7 Airlines operates regular flights within Russia as well as to CIS countries, Europe, Middle East, South East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. In 2007 the airline received an official notification from IATA on the inclusion in the register of IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) operators and became the second airline in Russia to successfully pass the full procedure of the international audit for conformity to operating safety standards. S7 Airlines is one of Russia’s most stable airlines, it implements the latest achievements of industry in the servicing of passengers and actively expanding the range and quality of its services. S7 Airlines has the most innovative and one of the “youngest” fleets in the Russian airline market.