Russian low-coster Pobeda will be Europe’s fastest growing airline this winter, as it is set to increase its number of seats by more than a third.
Pobeda, a subsidiary of Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot, will add 34% capacity for the 2019-20 winter season compared to last year — ahead of nearest rivals Wizz Air and Qatar Airways who will grow by 24% and 11% respectively.
The airline has also broken into the ranks of Europe’s top 30 airlines, coming in at number 29, according to Cirium data compiled for The Anker Report.
However, Pobeda announced today it would increase ticket prices by around 40% after it lost a court case concerning charging customers to check-in at European airports.
The airline had previously charged a fee to customers checking-in in-person at airports outside Russia. At Russian airports, no fee was charged. A Moscow court last week upheld a complaint against the airline which forbids it from charging for physical check-in at any airport. Pobeda said today it would add 25 euros to its ticket prices from the end of October to cover the service — a 40% increase based on the average ticket price.
Meanwhile, Pobeda’s parent company Aeroflot is set to cut back its winter flight plans, reducing capacity by around 3%. In 2018, Aeroflot was Europe’s seventh largest airline with 56 million passengers, far behind top-placed Lufthansa’s 143 million.
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