Article orginally published by Routes News, Wednesday, 27 November 2013 15:48 Written by Caroline Cook
Several reports have suggested that Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has been given the green light to commence flights to Moscow and St Petersburg from March 2014.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) has given the ‘okay’ for regular services from Dublin, its spokesperson Sergei Isvolsky told Bloomberg News.
It remains unclear which Moscow airport - Domodedovo or Sheremetyevo - the carrier will operate to and from.
A fax from the Irish Embassy to Rosaviatsia, published by the agency on Monday, said that Ryanair had applied for authorisation for the services to the Federation Air Transport Agency.
The document continued: “Additional air services between the two countries by both Irish and Russian airlines would benefit business and tourism relations between the two countries.”
However, an email statement from Ryanair’s Robin Kiely denied the claims, saying: “Ryanair has had discussions with a number of Russian airports, but they are purely exploratory at this time.
“Ryanair is currently in discussion with over 100 European airports, so competition for Ryanair growth is fierce. We talk to many airports and always keep the door open to new route options.”
Other European LCCs which operate to the two Russian cities include easyJet, germanwings, Wizz Air, Vueling and Pegasus Airlines.
Currently, direct Dublin-Moscow services are only operated from Domodedovo by S7 Airlines three times a week, pulling in a reported 32 million passengers a year.
However, this figure only accounts for 9% of the Dublin-Moscow market share.
Larger carriers, including Lufthansa, KLM, Air France and British Airways, pull in more travellers between Dublin and Moscow's two international airports via their hubs in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris-CDG and Heathrow.
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