RuAviation

Aeroflot Group together with the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation are working on draft regulations on the introduction of overbooking and wet leasing, the group’s CEO Sergey Alexandrovsky said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

Alexandrovsky specified that the idea of legalising overbooking looks feasible, especially for the Pobeda low-cost carrier. “The law on overbooking will allow all airlines to get out of the grey zone. Everyone understands that in one form or another overbooking on flights happens, for example, it happens when an aircraft has to be replaced. When for technical reasons a smaller aircraft has to be used. In this case, the rights of passengers remain unprotected,” he said.

At the same time, the mechanism, according to the director general, should be organised in such a way as not to infringe on the rights of passengers. “In no case we are talking about infringement of their rights. On the contrary, by increasing profitability, airlines will be able to make carriage more affordable. Overbooking itself is a clear tool for airlines, air carriers see the historical load of flights, the percentage of passengers who are not on the flight and sell taking into account these data. Of course, airlines will be able to apply overbooking on flights with high frequency,” he said.

As for wet leasing, when an aircraft is leased together with the crew, Alexandrovsky noted that after the adoption of the law allowing the use of such an instrument, “we will be able to transfer aircraft within the group or attract additional carrying capacity from outside”. If an airline has no need for aircraft in the low season, the group will be able to take capacity under its network and vice versa, he added.