Russian carrier UTair is to expand its international network from the Russian capital with three new routes from Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport; two to Uzbekistan and one to Belarus. The airline is already the largest carrier at the facility offering over 500 weekly flights to 65 destinations and accounting for 45.9 per cent of the available weekly seats. Its largest rival is Yakutia Airways with a 10.8 per cent share of the capacity.
The expansion in Uzbekistan will see a new three times weekly service introduced to Samarkand from August 16 and a single weekly rotation to Bukhara added from August 20, both operated using a Boeing 737-800. These will be the airline’s only routes into the country from Moscow, although it does offer a weekly flight to Andizhan from the Russian city of Surgut.
Samarkand and Bukhara are already served from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport with up to eight flights per week. Moscovia Airlines and Uzbekistan Airways offers flights to both destinations, while Tranasero Airlines serves Bukhara and Vim Airlines flies to Samarkand. An estimated 57,000 O&D passengers travelled between Domodedovo Airport and Bukhara in the last year and around 87,000 between Samarkand and the Moscow gateway.
In September, UTair will introduce a daily link from Moscow Vnukovo to the Belarusian capital Minsk, bring total flights to the city from Moscow’s airports to more than 60 a week. Aeroflot Russian Airlines already offer a twice daily service from Moscow Sheremetyevo, although UTair’s main rival will be Belavia which has two flights a day from Sheremetyevo, three from Domodedovo and a daily link to Vnukovo.
An estimated 206,000 O&D passengers travelled between Moscow and Minsk in the past year, with around 18,000 flying on the Moscow Vnukovo – Minsk route. UTair plans to initially utilise one of its new ATR 72-500s on the route, but could upgrade the flight to a Boeing 737-500 to meet specific demand, according to a company source.
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