Ryanair Courts Russia

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: October 24, 2012 (Issue # 1732)

MOSCOW — The Transportation Ministry has received a request from Ireland’s Foreign Ministry to allow Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair to operate flights between the two countries, a Transportation Ministry spokesman told Interfax.

The document does not list any possible routes or flight frequency.

“Details will be announced after the two countries’ aviation authorities have held talks,” he said.

Vedomosti reported last week that First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov welcomed foreign budget airlines’ expansion into the Russian market.

“We are talking about allowing low-cost airlines to fly to some destinations where their technology, investment and experience of managing this business could increase competition and, of course, lower costs,” the paper said, citing a spokesman for Shuvalov.

Currently, low-cost airlines that fly to Russia include Germany’s Air Berlin and Germanwings, Spain’s Vueling Airlines, Norway’s Norwegian, Austria’s Niki, Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines and the United Arab Emirates-based companies Air Arabia and Flydubai.

Ryanair is Europe’s largest low-cost airline. It flies more than 1,100 routes between 160 airports and makes more than 1,400 flights per day. The company flew more than 75 million passengers in 2011, and it has over 294 airplanes.