"Aeroflot will take airplanes into "wet" leasing

"Aeroflot will become the first Russian airline to take airplanes in "wet" leasing - leasing of aircraft together with crews. This is reported on Saturday, November 30, on the carrier's website.

"Preliminary agreements on the lease of three wide-body Airbus A330 airliners have been reached with Russian air carrier iFLY. The airplanes will be transferred to Aeroflot together with the crews. After the transfer of the airplanes, the total number of Airbus A330s in the air carrier's fleet will reach 15," the report says.

The leased long-haul airliners will be used for flights within Russia. At the first stage of cooperation the flights under the code SU will supplement the existing program of air transportation from Moscow to the settlements of the Far East during the period of high demand.

According to the company's information, we are talking about 12 paired flights from Moscow to Vladivostok and vice versa from December 22 to January 12, 13 flights from Moscow to Khabarovsk and vice versa from December 25 to January 11, 12 flights from Moscow to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and vice versa from December 25 to January 13 and four more flights from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and vice versa from December 28 to January 10.

At the moment ticket sales for these flights are open, Aeroflot said. In the future, iFly airliners will be used for regular flights from Moscow to Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

The head of Rosaviatsia, Dmitry Yadrov, explained that this is a new mechanism that will help the development of civil aviation in Russia.

"Carriers that take in "wet" leasing of aircraft, it will allow to promptly increase the fleet of aircraft, for example, during periods of high demand or when new routes appear," - his commentary is quoted by the press service of Aeroflot.

Amendments to the Air Code, legalizing "wet" leasing, were adopted on August 8 and came into force on September 1.

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Earlier, on September 4, Aeroflot CEO Sergei Alexandrovsky said that the airline proposed to extend the mechanism of "wet" leasing to foreign markets. At the same time, he said that Aeroflot would sub-lease 34 Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) aircraft to other carriers.