Rossiya Airlines
Rossiya Airlines JSC, sometimes branded as Rossiya—Russian Airlines, is the Russian airline, a part of Aeroflot Group and is currently one of the largest air carriers in Russia. Historically, the city of registration is Saint Petersburg. The company is based at Pulkovo International Airport, operating more than 50% of the airport’s air traffic, and at Sheremetyevo International Airport.
The airline's total route network includes more than 130 domestic and international destinations.
According to the results of 2019, Rossiya Airlines transported 11,6 million people, and is one of the five largest air carriers in the country by this indicator.
Flights numbered SU6001-6999 are operated under the code of Aeroflot PJSC.
Flights numbered FV5501-5949 are operated according to the order of the tour operator.
History
Merger with Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise
Main article: Pulkovo Aviation EnterpriseRossiya Airlines is the successor of Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise, which was established on April 3, 1992. This date is the day when the airline was established as a separate legal entity. In turn, FSUE «Pulkovo» is the receiver of an independent detachment for the management of the Leningrad-Moscow air line, formed on May 7, 1934.
On September 30, 2005, the airport was separated from the Federal State Unitary Enterprise «Pulkovo» and became an independent legal entity of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise «Pulkovo Airport». On October 9, 2006, the Federal State Unitary Aviation Enterprise «Pulkovo» was renamed FSUE «State Transport Company «Rossiya».
Until July 2008, the company's assets were under Federal ownership and the company was subordinate to the office of the President of the Russian Federation and the :ru:Министерство_транспорта_РФ|Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. On July 10, 2008, the decree of the President of the Russian Federation made a decision to transform STC «Rossiya» into an Open Joint Stock Company and transfer 100% of the shares of the State Corporation «Rostec», and the company itself was excluded from the list of strategic enterprises and strategic joint stock companies of the Russian Federation.
In January 2009, a special unit was detached from the company. The corresponding complex was transferred to the newly created :ru:Специальный_лётный_отряд_«Россия»|special flight group «Russia».
On February 2, 2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved the Ministry of Transport's proposal to corporatize STC «Rossiya» and other Federal State Unitary Enterprises managed by «Rostec», as well as their subsequent merger with Aeroflot Group.
On February 2, 2011, with the receipt of the certificate of registration of Rossiya Airlines OJSC, its privatization was completed. On January 28, 2011, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise was transformed into Rossiya Airlines OJSC.
Aeroflot Group
On November 16, 2011, 75% minus 1 share of Rossiya Airlines JSC was transferred to Aeroflot JSC. In December, 25% plus 1 share were donated to the Government of Saint Petersburg. In accordance with the decree of the city government of December 23, 2011, the main purpose of the transfer is to ensure the implementation of the powers of the Executive bodies of Saint Petersburg to organize the development of the city's transport complex.In December 2011, a decree was signed by the Government of Saint Petersburg on accepting a gift of 25 % of the airline's shares from «Rostec». 229,726 ordinary registered non-documentary shares were transferred to the city. The nominal value of one security is 1 thousand rubles. In total, Saint Petersburg has now become the owner of a blocking stake — 25 % plus one voting share.
In 2014, the commercial management of Rossiya Airlines JSC was transferred to the parent company Aeroflot PJSC. Since the spring-summer schedule, flights of Rossiya Airlines have been operated under a single code for the Aeroflot Group of companies. That is why new IT-products were introduced in the field of booking, distribution and registration of transportation, and Rossiya Airlines became a participant in the Aeroflot Bonus frequent-flyer programme. The company's passenger traffic exceeded 5 million passengers. Rossiya becomes the official carrier of FC Zenit and presents the VQ-BAS aircraft to the public in the club's corporate livery. At the end of the year, it becomes the most punctual airline in Russia.
On March 27, 2016, Rossiya Airlines begins flights in a new format and scale. Saint Petersburg remains to be the main base. Donavia and Orenair, which are other subsidiaries of Aeroflot, were integrated under the brand of Rossiya.
The company's fleet and flight geography are expanding significantly. The airline starts operating flights from Moscow.
Rebranding
Simultaneously with the presentation of the updated company, the air carrier started the process of rebranding. A new airline livery has been developed and implemented, as well as the tradition of naming Russian cities to aircraft – the first of them are «Saint Petersburg», «Rostov-on-Don», «Volgograd». The name and coat of arms of the city are placed on the forward part of the fuselage under the cockpit. The rebranding project was carried out by the Otvetdesign Agency. The main task in developing the new corporate identity of Rossiya Airlines was to create a bright, recognizable, memorable, filled with semantic communication visual image of the airline. The modernized corporate identity is intended to emphasize the modern scale of the company. When launching the rebranding, great importance was given to the continuity of the previous logo and at the same time to give it new modern features. The brand name of the logo is made in the form of an inversion trace from the aircraft. Its writing-stroke emphasizes the dynamic nature of the new brand. The given image is also developed in the system of graphic elements of corporate identity, starting from aircraft liveries and ending with business documentation.
An element that looks like a blade is the basis of the corporate pattern of the aircraft livery. Its plastic and shape compliment with the company's logo. The element consists of modules that graphically repeat the image of the turbine. The pattern changes its density from the nose of the aircraft to its tail - it becomes more saturated, as if following the flow of air. This technique helps to convey the feeling of flight, movement, even when the plane is on the ground. The name of the airline is printed on the lower part of the fuselage in corporate font.
In April 2016, the airline introduced the first Boeing 747-400 in a new livery, named after Saint Petersburg.
Corporate information
General data
In July 2018, the maintenance base of Rossiya Airlines received the certificate of the international organization for accreditation of calibration laboratories according to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation standard.Since October 2018, Rossiya Airlines has started to independently perform the most extensive periodic forms of 6Y check and 12Y check maintenance on Airbus A320 family aircraft. The airline's first A319 entered service on October 7, 2018. Permission for this type of work was obtained after an audit of Rossiya’s Department of Aviation and Technical Support by the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority, held in September. The audit was preceded by the purchase of special tools and ground equipment.
Based on the results of the International Air Transport Association's operational safety audit in 2007, the airline was included in the IOSA register of operators, and in 2015, 2017 and 2019 it passed regular audits. The airline has a certificate of compliance with the Quality Management System requirements of.
Production indicators
Rossiya Airlines’ production indicators:| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Passengers transported, mln | 3,2 | 3,5 | 2,9 | 3,1 | 3,5 | 4,2 | 4,6 | 5,2 | 4,6 | 8,1 | 11,1 | 11,1 | 11,6 |
| Passenger turnover, bln pass-km | No data | 7,730 | 6,091 | 6,242 | 7,191 | 8,761 | 9,186 | 10,147 | 8,695 | 18,719 | 28,119 | 29,6 | 33,7 |
| Load factor, % | No data | No data | No data | 75,3 | 75,3 | 77,5 | 76,4 | 75,7 | 81,7 | 81,7 | 84,4 | 86,6 | 85,3 |
Fleet
As of 01.07.2020:Route network
The total route network of Rossiya Airlines includes 53 destinations in the summer of 2020, including socially significant and highly demanded destinations to cities of the Far East and South of the country.Onboard magazine
The R FLIGHT entertainment magazine is distributed on all flights of Rossiya Airlines.The first issue of the airline’s own onboard magazine took place in July 2017. The airline's website contains an archive of the onboard magazine issues.
Online souvenir store
In April 2019, the airline introduced its own online souvenir store. At the moment, there are about 60 products on the site. The catalog is divided into five categories: «New Items and Hits», «Aircraft Models», «For a trip», «Nice things» and «FC Zenit».'''CEO'''
In the period from 1992 to 2020, the following people were appointed to the post of the CEO of Rossiya Airlines JSC:- Sergey Vladimirovich Alexandrovsky,
- Dmitry Petrovich Saprykin,
- Vasily Nikolaevich Meshkov,
- Sergey Gennadievich Belov,
- Roman Viktorovich Pakhomov,
- Sergey Yurievich Mikhalchenko,
- Gennady Andreevich Boldyrev,
- Alexander Nikolayevich Golovin,
- Boris Grigoryevich Demchenko.
Partnership with FC Zenit
In November 2014, the first aircraft in the airline's history in the light blue-white -blue livery of the football club was presented in Saint Petersburg. The aircraft carries out not only flights of Zenit, but is also involved in operation of regular flights of the airline.
On July 19, 2015, a new partnership agreement was signed between Rossiya Airlines and FC Zenit at the Petrovsky Stadium. The new partner agreement is designed for one year with the possibility of further extension.
In October 2017, within the framework of cooperation with the football club, the airline received the right to name the stand at the Gazprom Arena: «Rossiya – sector C».
On July 15, 2019, the official signing of the partnership agreement between Rossiya Airlines and FC Zenit took place at the Gazprom Arena stadium. After the completion of the ceremony, the game between «Zenit» and «Tambov» was held. Rossiya prepared a special campaign in support of the team: the airline's flight attendants gave a pre-match briefing instructions to all fans.
In addition to transporting football club players, the plane operates regular flights.
Special projects
Zenitolet
In July 2014, Rossiya Airlines became the official carrier of Zenit Saint Petersburg football club.In early October 2014, the airline and the football club announced a contest «Paint the Zenit’s aircraft!», in which more than two hundred participants from all regions of Russia and other countries competed for the right to become the author of the new aircraft livery. The competition jury, headed by FC Zenit head coach Andre Villas-Boas, determined the winner to be a sketch of Sergei Skrebnev. His version of the special livery was chosen to be applied to the A319 aircraft with the tail number VQ-BAS.
On October 29, 2014, the aircraft was delivered to the Netherlands for painting. On November 11 of the same year, the liner was presented at Pulkovo International Airport.
Care About Tigers/Tigrolet
In September 2016, Rossiya Airlines together with the Amur Tiger Center presented a Boeing 747 aircraft named after Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in a special tiger livery. The nose of the aircraft was decorated with an image of the head of the Siberian tigeThe goal of the project is to attract public attention to the conservation of populations of rare species of wild animals. The airliner operates the most popular routes to the cities of the Far East and popular resort destinations within Russia. The aircraft made its first flight on September 11 to Vladivostok.
Far Easter (Amur) Leopard/Leolet
In February 2017, Rossiya Airlines unveiled Boeing 777-300 named after the city of Ussuriysk, featuring the muzzle of the Far Eastern leopard, the rarest of all leopard subspecies. The project was implemented jointly with the Autonomus non-profit organization «Far Eastern Leopards». The decision to replenish the fleet with an aircraft in the original livery was made in order to support environmental initiatives carried out within the Framework of the Year of Ecology in Russia.The aircraft performs flights on the most popular and socially significant routes to the cities of the Far East and popular domestic and international resorts.
Sportolet
On May 29, 2018, the airline received an Airbus A319 VQ-BCP Rostov-on-Don in a new exclusive livery dedicated to Russian sports. The main elements of the special sports livery are stylized images and attributes representing four sports — football, hockey, gymnastics, and figure skating — combining winter and summer varieties, team and individual sports, which are popular among the most the Russian audience of fans. All elements of the image are stylized by polygonal graphics that compliments the style of Zenitolet livery. The creative concept and design of the project were developed and implemented by the airline's specialists.In June 2018, a competition to choose a name for the airliner in a new unique sports livery was announced on the airline's social network. During the week, the contestants offered more than 130 different names. The most popular was Sportolet.
Awards
In 2019, the airline's staff was awarded the Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation for services to the development of air transport and high performance in professional activities.Rossiya is recognized as the best in the country and one of the best regional airlines in Europe within the framework of the annual international Travellers' Choice Award 2019 The rating of the best airlines is formed by the world's most popular travel resource – TripAdvisor - based on travelers ' reviews.
According to the results of 2019:
- «Best Economy Class, Domestic Regular Flights» Skyway Service Award;
- «Best Airline in Tourist Destinations» Skyway Service Award;
- Special award for support of the Federal project Year of Theater in Russia of Skyway Service Award;
- «The Greatest Contribution to the Development of Transfer Services» of the annual award of Pulkovo International Airport LED Together;
- Winner of the international award MRO Russia & CIS 2020 in the category «Best technical service» ;
- Gold in the animated promotional video category at the MUSE Creative Awards.
At the international forum SKYSERVICE 2019, the team of flight attendants of Rossiya Airlines was recognized as the «People of the Year».