Samara: Increase of air Traffic Volume to the UAE and Egypt

[IMG=21041-6883]Moscow tour operators plan to increase air traffic volume from Samara to Egypt in the winter season. Thus, Pegas Touristik, intends to launch two charter programs in co-operation with Tatarstan airlines. Flights to Hurgada by IL-86 will be operated twice a week starting from October 1st, while flights to Sharm-el-Sheikh will be operated three times a week starting from September 30th. Furthermore, TEZ TOUR will launch a flight to Hurgada by TU-204 in co-operation with Airlines-400 starting from September 28th – the flight will be operated twice a week. The company also plans to operate a flight to Sharm-el-Sheikh with the same frequency. The airline and the type of aircraft are being decided at the moment. Meanwhile, Samara tour operators such as Sputnik – Hermes, Intourist-Samara, Samaraintour, SamaraAeroTour, Rasip Travel and Aviteks in co-operation with Samara Airlines will consolidate a flight to the UAE that will be operated by TU-154 every ten days from October 31st to May 11th. According to the tour operators themselves the increase of air traffic volume to the main winter destinations is reasonable. Thus, Anna Podgornaya, General Director of Pegas Touristik, commented that ‘the samara market is receptive and large considering other big cities of the region. Moreover, tour operators offer different product; the local market is not overwhelmed with the same offers’. Furthermore, Roman Ribakov, PR Director of TEZ TOUR, also believes that the market capacity will allow meeting the increased air traffic volume. However, Natalia Zavalischina, Director of Intourist-Samara, one of the consolidator of the UAE flight, expresses doubts: ‘there is risk that we will not be able to run the flights to the Emirates at its full capacity, especially at the end of November and at the beginning of December. As for Egypt air traffic volume to the destination has doubled comparing to last year. And nobody can forecast whether the market will cope’. According to Zavalischina, last year the end of November and the beginning of December were marked with an absolute failure at the Egyptian destination. Only 30 seats on a flight were sold and a price for a tour package reduced by $259. Industry experts forecast excess of flights to Egypt. Valery Shmelev, Director of Globus-tour, stated that: ‘it’s an evident excess of flights. It would be optimal if each tour operator consolidates only one program’. The increase of air traffic volume did not considerably affect the cost of air traffic to the destinations: a flight from Samara to the UAE has increased in price by 5–8%, while a flight to Egypt – by 10–15%.