Red Wings airline plans to increase passenger traffic by 45% by the end of 2022 compared to the “pre-pandemic” 2019 – up to 4.5 million people.

The airline’s CEO Evgeny Klyucharev said at a meeting with Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratiev in Krasnodar on Tuesday that the airline plans to carry 2 million passengers on domestic routes. According to the regional administration’s press service, Klyucharev presented the regional head with the project of a regional low-cost carrier, which involves providing direct flights across Russia at affordable prices.

“For the strategic development of the company and for the route network to work successfully, we need a base in the Southern Federal District. Then we will be able to offer passengers a direct way to the south. The base assumes 4-5 vessels and passenger traffic of more than 600 thousand passengers per year. We have experience in forming branches – there are bases in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Western Siberia. We employ the entire flight crew in the branch,” the press service quotes Klyucharev as saying.

The Governor of Kuban noted that new directions to the Black Sea coast from the Urals and the Volga region may become in demand. In turn, the authorities are ready to consider subsidizing transportation in the off-season, which will contribute to the growth of passenger traffic to the resorts of the region.

In the airline “Interfax” reported that at the end of 2021 Red Wings served 2.99 million passengers, including 2.06 million on domestic flights. At the end of 2019, Red Wings carried 3.1 million passengers. At the same time, which airport is supposed to be used for basing, “Interfax” did not specify, noting that the issue is at the stage of discussion.

Red Wings is among the ten largest airlines in Russia in terms of passenger traffic. The company’s fleet includes Superjet 100, A321, A320, Boeing-777 airplanes. The company is controlled by Rostec State Corporation through the leasing company Ilyushin Finance Co.