Dobrolet (airline) - Misplaced Pages

Dobrolet LLC (Russian: ООО «Добролёт», romanized: OOO Dobrolyot) was a Russian low-cost airline - a subsidiary of Aeroflot - based at Sheremetyevo International Airport. It operated scheduled flights to domestic destinations before it ceased operation on 4 August 2014.

History

Background

The operation of low-cost airlines in Russia to date has not been met with success. Sky Express was the first attempt at a Russian low-cost airline and began operations in 2007; it ceased operations in October 2011 after experiencing financial difficulties with all aircraft and flights being transferred to Kuban Airlines. Avianova, founded in 2009 and the fastest growing low-cost airline in Russia, ceased operations twenty days before SkyExpress due to unresolvable disputes between its shareholders; the Russian A1 Investments and the US-based Indigo Partners.

In October 2012, Aeroflot General-Director Vitaly Savelyev held a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Novo-Ogaryovo residence at which the operations of the Russian flag carrier and the creation of conditions optimal for the operation of low-cost airlines in Russia were discussed. During the meeting Savelyev told Putin that Aeroflot was committed to staying a full-service premium airline, but given the right legislative conditions the flag carrier would be ready to launch a low-cost airline in a six- to twelve-month period.

Experts had attributed part of the failure of SkyExpress and Avianova to unfavourable legislative conditions, and during the course of the meeting Savelyev noted the legislative changes which would need to implemented to create favourable conditions for the establishment of a true low-cost airline in Russia. Amongst them, Article 108 of the Russian Air Code would need to be amended in order to allow airlines to sell passengers non-refundable tickets and Article 56 of the Russian Air Code would need to be amended to allow the hiring of foreign pilots. Federal aviation rules would need amending to allow for airlines to charge passengers for baggage, who were then allowed to check in 10 kilograms for no charge, and rules would need to be amended to allow airlines not to serve meals on board, something which was then prohibited. Additionally, it was Savelyev's contention that low-cost airlines should operate from their own airport, in order to keep airport taxes to a minimum, and for import duties on aircraft with more than 170 seats to be scrapped.

Such changes were expected to hit obstacles as numerous government ministries had expressed their opposition to such changes—the Ministry of Transport was opposed to relaxing conditions on the serving of inflight meals and free luggage allowances; the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry were opposed to abolishing import duties on aircraft as this would impact on the Irkut MC-21 program; and the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare and the Federal Antimonolopy Service were against the introduction of a non-refundable ticket regime in Russia. However, for his part, Putin agreed with Savelyev that numerous legislative changes should be looked at, but was hesitant to lend his support on the idea of the hiring of foreign pilots as he stated this would require further indepth discussions and negotiations with the relevant trade unions.

Formation

On 17 September 2013, Savelyev announced that the Aeroflot board had resolved at its August meeting that the company would begin planning of a stand-alone low-cost airlines – it would not be carved out of the mainline company – and that the board had committed itself to allocating funding for the project in 2013, and further in 2014 from the company's budget.

Dobrolet, LLC was registered on 4 October 2013 with Aeroflot as the only shareholder. On 10 October 2013, Savelyev acknowledged the formation of the company and publicly announced that the name of the Aeroflot's new stand-alone low-cost airline would be Dobrolet; the same name as an early Soviet airline which itself preceded the formation of Aeroflot, and whose name translates loosely to good flight. It was announced that it was expected for the airline to launch flights in 2014 with flights from Moscow to 8 Russian cities – Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Makhachkala, Ufa, Kaliningrad and Novy Urengoy, whilst expanding its network in the second year of operation to 19 destinations, and furthermore to 26 destinations in its third year. The airline also expected to begin foreign flights in 2016 to destinations such as Barcelona, Kyiv, Yerevan and Istanbul.

Following the annexation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation, on 27 March 2014 Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed Russian Railways and Aeroflot to submit proposals to the Russian government on transport accessibility to the newly annexed territory, and in the case of Aeroflot the proposal should see "a larger number of flights in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, particularly with the use of a low-budget air carrier."

Tickets for the first route from Moscow to Simferopol went on sale on 26 May 2014 with one-way fares ranging between 999 and 3,499 rubles, and it was reported that within 24 hours some four thousand tickets were sold. All fares included one piece of carry-on luggage weighing up to 10 kilograms, with all other extras such as meals and pre-flight seat selection attracting additional charges.

Commencement of operations

Dobrolet operated its first commercial flight on the Moscow to Simferopol route on 10 June 2014. Prior to the flight, which was fully booked, the aircraft was inspected by Dmitry Medvedev, who also greeted Dobrolet customers who were booked on the flight. After inspecting the aircraft, Medvedev is reported as saying "The plane is cool, it's completely new. Its seats are narrow, but the flights aren't very long so I hope everything will be OK."

EU sanctions and shutdown

In the aftermath of the unsolved shootdown on 17 July 2014 of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine, on 30 July 2014 the European Union placed additional sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, amongst them Dobrolet, LLC. The EU justified the sanctions on Dobrolet as it was state-owned and Dobrolet had operated only on the Moscow to Simferopol route, which in the view of the EU facilitates what it deemed to be the illegal integration of Crimea and Sevastopol into the Russian Federation and thereby it deems the act of flights to Crimea to be supporting the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty.

In accordance with the EU sanctions, supply of materials and investments in Russia were prohibited while its citizens were banned from providing economic resources. European partners of Dobrolet began to cancel contracts they held with the airline, covering aircraft leasing, maintenance and insurance. Irish-based SMBC Aviation Capital cancelled leasing agreements for a 737-800, and Lufthansa Technik cancelled agreements to provide maintenance on the Dobrolet Boeing-fleet. The EU also stopped providing aeronautical information.

Due to the sanctions and the resultant contract cancellations by its partners, on 3 August 2014 the management of Dobrolet announced that all flight operations would cease as of the next day. With this announcement, Dobrolet became the first company to cease operations due to EU sanctions, leading Moscow to threaten more tit-for-tat sanctions in response.

At the time of the shutdown, the airline had managed to sell some 95,000 tickets. It was announced that ticket holders for Dobrolet flights from Moscow to Simferopol and Volgograd would have their flights provided by Orenair until 15 September and 20 August, respectively. Other customers with paid for flights past these dates, and including flights to destinations for which service had not yet begun, would receive a full refund.

Nevertheless, on 6 August the company announced it has ordered sixteen new Boeing 737-800 airplanes to be produced in 2017–2018.

Post shutdown

On 16 September 2014, it was announced that Aeroflot had registered a new company, ООО «Бюджетный перевозчик» (English: Budget Carrier, LLC), which was pointedly known as Pobeda, which means "Victory". Pobeda added some Dobrolet aircraft to its own fleet.

Destinations

The company served nine destinations (as of October 2014):

Russia

Kazan – Kazan International Airport
Moscow – Sheremetyevo International Airport
Perm – Perm International Airport
Samara – Kurumoch International Airport
Surgut – Surgut International Airport
Ufa – Ufa International Airport
Volgograd – Volgograd International Airport
Yekaterinburg – Koltsovo Airport
Simferopol – Simferopol International Airport

Fleet

The Dobrolet Airlines fleet included the following aircraft (as of May 2014):


Aircraft	In Fleet	Orders	Passengers			Notes
Aircraft	In Fleet	Orders	C	Y	Total	Notes
Boeing 737-800	2	8	0	189	189	VQ-BTS, VQ-BTG

References

Расписание движения воздушных судов ООО "Добролет" напериод 11.06.2014 – 25.10.2014 [Timetables aircraft JSC "Dobrolet" for the period 11.06.2014 – 25.10.2014] (PDF) (in Russian). Добролет. 2014-06-24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
^ Karnaukh, Maria (17 July 2014). "Flying the 'good flight' on Dobrolet". Russia Beyond The Headlines. Archived from the original on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
^ "Kuban Airlines ceases operations, the last vestige of LCC SkyExpress? UTair gains most". Centre for Aviation. 19 December 2012. Archived from the original on 19 November 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
^ "Meeting with General Director of Aeroflot Vitaly Savelyev". Kremlin.ru. Presidential Press and Information Office. 26 October 2012. Archived from the original on 24 July 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
^ "Аэрофлот" рассказал Путину о способах создания лоукостера в России. Lenta.ru (in Russian). 30 November 2012. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
^ "Аэрофлот" зарегистрировал лоукостер "Добролет". ITAR-TASS (in Russian). Moscow. 10 October 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
^ Novik, Gennady; Winning, Alexander (10 June 2014). "Russia's new low-cost airline makes maiden flight to Crimea". Moscow. Archived from the original on 21 June 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
Luhn, Alec (30 July 2013). "Russia's Aeroflot to launch budget airline amid effort to revamp brand". The Guardian. Moscow. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
"Medvedev instructs to propose more flights in Crimea within a week". ITAR-TASS. Moscow. 27 March 2014. Archived from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
^ "Dmitry Medvedev sees off the first Moscow-Simferopol flight of the budget airline Dobrolet". Government.ru. Sheremetyevo International Airport, Khimki, Moscow Oblast. 10 June 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
Borodina, Polina (10 June 2014). "Aeroflot subsidiary Dobrolet launches flights". Air Transport World. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
^ Kaminski-Morrow, David (30 July 2014). "Dobrolet and missile-launcher firm hit by EU sanctions". Flightglobal. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
Solovev, Denis B. (2019). Smart Technologies and Innovations in Design for Control of Technological Processes and Objects: Economy and Production : Proceeding of the International Science and Technology Conference "FarEastCon-2018". Cham, Switzerland: Springer. p. 696. ISBN 9783030155766.
Guzhva, Vitaly S.; Raghavan, Sunder; D’Agostino, Damon J. (2018). Aircraft Leasing and Financing: Tools for Success in International Aircraft Acquisition and Management. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 130. ISBN 9780128152850.
^ Bowen, John (2019). Low-Cost Carriers in Emerging Countries. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 112. ISBN 9780128113936.
Lossan, Alexei (5 August 2014). "EU sanctions force Russia's only low-cost airline to halt operations". Russia Beyond the Headlines. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
Hille, Kathrin (August 4, 2014). "Aeroflot subsidiary grounded by European sanctions". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
"Russia's Dobrolet Suspends All Flights Since August 4 Amid Sanctions". RIA Novosti. Moscow. 3 August 2014. Archived from the original on 6 August 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
Kaufmann, Dirk (5 August 2014). "Russia retaliates against EU sanctions". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 15 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
^ "Аэрофлот" создал компанию ООО "Бюджетный перевозчик" (in Russian). Moscow. ITAR-TASS. 16 September 2014. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
Popov, Yegor (3 August 2014). «Добролет» сядет в полночь. Kommersant (in Russian). Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
""Добролет" купит у Boeing 16 новых самолетов" (in Russian). RBC. 6 August 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
Dobrolet Route Map Archived October 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
Dobrolet Fleet Archived May 29, 2014, at the Wayback Machine

Aeroflot

Part of SkyTeam alliance

Subsidiaries

Active	Pobeda Rossiya
Inactive	Dobrolet Donavia Orenair SAT Airlines Vladivostok Air
Exited	Aurora Nordavia (now Smartavia)

Fleet

Accidents and
incidents

1940s	G-2 Alma-Ata crash ANT-20bis crash CCCP-Л1450 crash Flight 17
1950s	Il-12 Karaganda crash Il-12 Novosibirsk crash Kemerovo mid-air collision Flight 229 Flight 783 Flight 10 Flight 136 Flight 214 Flight 229 Kiev mid-air collision Flight 11 Flight 10 Flight 105 Flight 04 Flight 365 Flight 164 Il-12 Lazo crash Тu-104 Kanash crash Flight 200 Flight 315
1960s	Flight 315 Flight 207 Flight 036 Flight 068 Flight 245 Flight 902 Flight 415 Flight 03 Flight 213 Flight 191 Flight 25 Flight 012 Flight 366 Flight 663 Flight 721 Flight 101/X-20 Flight 542 Flight 513 Flight 99 Flight 065 Flight 2723 Flight 5003 Flight 2230 Flight L-51 Flight 1668 Flight 15 Flight 831 Flight F-28 Flight N-826
1970s	Flight U-45 Flight 1661 Flight 3630 CCCP-11000 crash CCCP-12996 crash Flight 1969 Flight 1912 Flight 773 Flight N-63 Flight 2174 Flight 1491 Flight 558 Flight 1036 Flight 217 Flight 6263 Flight 141 Flight 630 Flight X-167 Flight 6551 Flight 109 Flight A-13 Flight 3932 Flight 964 Flight 19 Flight 2022 Flight 2420 CCCP-75559 crash Flight 662 Flight E-15 Flight A-53 Flight 2003 Flight 3739 Flight 909 Flight 1802 Flight 418 Flights 7957 and 31 Flight 2415 Flight N-36 Flight 3843 Flight 5003 Flight 331 Flight B-2 Flight 6709 Flight 1080 Flight 6515 Flight 1691 Flights 7628 and 7880 Flight 5484
1980s	Flight 4225 Flight 498 Flight 811 Flight 3603 Flight 8641 Flight 411 Flight 343 Flight 5463 Flight 601 Flight 3352 Flight F-637 Flight 3519 Flight 7841 Zolochiv mid-air collision Flight 5143 Flight 101/435 Flight F-77 Flight 2306 Flight 6502 Flight 892 Flight U-505 Flight N-528 Flight 699 Flight 3739
since 1990s	Flight E-35D CCCP-46472 crash Flight 2808 Flight 593 Flight 521 Flight 821 Flight 1492

Airlines of Russia

Full-service

Major	Aeroflot Rossiya Airlines S7 Airlines Ural Airlines Utair
Minor	Alrosa Aurora Azimuth IrAero NordStar Yakutia Airlines Yamal Airlines

Low-cost/budget

Leisure

Regional

Charter

International	I-Fly
Regional	AeroBratsk Dexter Air Taxi Jet Express Airlines Jet-2000 Kazan Air Enterprise Kosmos Airlines Lukiaviatrans LUKoil-Avia Sibia Simargl Air Company Sirius-Aero Smolenskaerotrans

Cargo

Defunct

Full-service

Major

Domodedovo Airlines

Minor

Low-cost

Regional

Charter

International	Center-South Metrojet Orenair Royal Flight Vyborg Airlines
Regional	Alania Airlines Artel Staratelei "Amur" Airlines Chernomor-Avia Estar Avia Grozny Avia Ryazanaviatrans Skol Airlines Solaris Airlines Transeuropean Airlines Tuva Airlines Zonalnoye Air Enterprise

Executive

Aeroflot-Plus

Cargo

Alliances

AiRUnion

Other

Babyflot

By number of passengers

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