Pobeda (DP, Moscow Sheremetyevo) will indeed make its international debut this year after the CEO of Bratislava Airport, Ivan Trhlík, announced his airport would be among the first destinations the LCC may serve effective this winter.
Speaking to local media last week, Trhlík indicated that the LCC's entry into the Moscow Vnukovo-Bratislava market had been facilitated by the withdrawal of UTair (UT, Khanty-Mansiysk) earlier this year. Back then, full-service carrier UTAir pointed to a dramatic downturn in demand brought on by international sanctions for its withdrawal.
In June, Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) management reportedly asked the Russian Ministry of Transport to exempt Pobeda from local regulations which require a carrier to operate domestically for two years before venturing abroad. They argue that as the airline is a subsidiary of the Russian national carrier, it already satisfies the requirement. Pobeda was founded in December last year following the still-birth of predecessor Dobrolet (Moscow Sheremetyevo).
Other destinations Pobeda is reportedly looking at include cities in neighbouring CIS states such as Tbilisi, Baku Heydar Aliev International and Minsk National, as well as Skopje, Sofia, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
