Aeroflot Group has decided to significantly reduce its flights to Rostov-on-Don, effective March 31, when its summer schedule begins. The reductions apply to all of the group's airlines flying to Rostov and virtually all destinations served from there, according to a report from its own correspondent. Travel.ru.
Parent company Aeroflot continues to reduce service on the Moscow-Rostov route. Flights from the capital (jointly with its subsidiary Rossiya) have been reduced from nine daily flights in the summer of 2018 and eight this winter to just seven flights starting March 31. However, during the peak period from late May to late September, three of these seven flights, including all evening flights, will be operated by Rossiya's more capacious 189-seat Boeing 737s.
At the same time, these Rossiya flights do not offer business class—in other words, evening business class flights from Moscow to Rostov or back will be impossible. Furthermore, Aeroflot will continue to use its smallest aircraft, the Superjet 100, for the peak departure at 5:40 a.m. from Rostov, creating a significant shortage of seats in the morning. Rossiya's morning flight to Moscow was cancelled back in the fall.
Rossiya Airlines will reduce the frequency of flights on the St. Petersburg-Rostov route from 10 to 7 per week starting March 31. The carrier will also close the Rostov-Tel Aviv route, which is no longer served by any other airline. As a result, over the past few years, Aeroflot Group has closed all routes from Rostov that it inherited from Donavia, including those to Yerevan, Istanbul, Antalya, Tashkent, Simferopol, and Tel Aviv.
Another Aeroflot subsidiary, Pobeda Airlines, a self-described "low-cost carrier," will cease flights from Rostov to Yekaterinburg on March 31. These thrice-weekly flights will be relocated to Krasnodar (from there, the frequency will increase by three flights per week, reaching daily service). Similar changes will also occur on the Moscow route: Pobeda's flights from the capital to Rostov will be reduced to twice daily, while flights to Krasnodar will increase to two or three times daily.
Furthermore, unlike last summer, Pobeda will not fly from Rostov to Gyumri. Instead, the company will continue to operate flights to Tbilisi for the summer (reducing them from seven to three times a week), and will operate flights to Batumi the remaining four days a week, as it did last year. Pobeda will maintain one daily flight on the St. Petersburg-Rostov route.
Source: travel.ru
