More flights will link Palermo and Moscow

Flighys connecting Palermo and Moscow will be increased. The flights, operated by the young low cost airline Pobeda Airlines, have achieved excellent results. In fact, in just six months from the launch of the direct flight Palermo (PMO) -Mosca Vnukovo (VKO), Pobeda Airlines has achieved a load factor of more than 91%. Thanks to this result, Pobeda, a low-cost member of the Aeroflot group, presented the development and strengthening of the Palermo-Moscow connection last friday at Villa Niscemi.
The meeting was attended by the mayor of Palermo Leoluca Orlando, the consul general of the Russian Federation Evgeny Panteleev, the commercial director Pobeda, Anton Vitrischak, the president and the CEO of the Gesap – the management company of the airport of Palermo Falcone Borsellino – Tullio Giuffré and Giovanni Scalia, the consultant of the company and tour operator Alfio La Ferla.

The company doubles the frequency of flights, from two (from March 31 to May 23, Thursday and Sunday: departure from Palermo at 10.10 a.m. and departure from Moscow at 5.25 a.m.) to four (from 24 May to 25 October; , wednesday, friday and sunday: departure from Palermo at 8.45 a.m. and departure from Moscow at 1.30 p.m.), starting next May, and further increase the flights also in winter 2019, with the possibility to cover the connection for the whole week. But already in summer alone we will see an increase in passengers transported, which from May to September will be on average six thousand per month. It is expected that at the end of 2019 the total number of passengers carried will be around 50 thousand.
“The increase in frequencies is also confirmation of the commercial capacity of the airport – said the mayor – which continues to grow according to a trend already traced by the administration of the past CEO Giambrone. This connection with Moscow is of extraordinary importance, especially for Palermo, because it allows the city to have an extraordinary hub called Moscow “.
The young Russian low-cost airline has a modern fleet of 16 aircraft of 1887-seat Boeing 737-800NG aircraft. The first flight was made in December 2014.
“The company has decided to invest in the territory of Palermo – said Giuffré – The connection with Moscow is one of the many innovations that Gesap has in store. The next step will be to present the entire summer offer, but it is also the moment when we will take over from the 2020 Aci Europe convention that will take place in Palermo “.

In 2015 Pobeda Airlines entered the list of the first ten airlines in Russia, transporting around two million passengers in just ten months.
“The increase in frequencies indicates that there is a greater demand for supply – said Scalia – and it is also the confirmation, in 2019, that the growth of Palermo airport continues. In these first months of the year we see a percentage increase in passengers of 11 percent. The economic indicators of the management company are also positive. ”
Within Russia it carries out more than 45 connections. Palermo is the third Italian destination, after Bergamo and Pisa, which joins the Pobeda network.
The Falcone Borsellino has doubled the connections with Russia: Moscow Vnukovo (annual) and the existing route on Moscow Semeret’evo (summer).
The airport maintains the record of Sicilian airport with the highest percentage of passengers (in 2018 it was the second largest airport in Italy for passenger growth – source Assaeroporti, the third in Europe between the airports of 5 to 10 million passengers year – Aci Europe source). Last January it closed with passenger growth of 6.52% (398.157) and the surge of international travelers: + 34.51%. Positive trend also in the past month of February: + 11% of passengers (+ 38 thousand) compared to February 2018 and + 11% of flights.
In the last three years (2016/2018) the airport has registered a step forward in the number of international routes in the winter season, passing from 13 to 24 operational connections. Flights will also increase in winter 2019, with some advances concerning Ryanair (Krakow, Frankfurt Hahn, Bordeaux and Toulouse). The Irish company will fly on Palermo, as well as in four other Italian cities, the new B737 Max 200.
For the Summer 2019 season, which will open at the end of March, Ryanair has announced more flights to Valencia, while Air France puts on track the new connection with Paris Charles De Gaulle (from July, four weekly frequencies). Lauda Motion proposes Dusseldorf (three times a week) and the Tui Fly Palermo-Lille. The entire program, about 97 scheduled and charter flights, will be illustrated in the coming days.

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