MOSCOW-
Russia’s first budget airline took to the skies Monday in a bold bid to win a sizable share of the fast-growing, $7 billiondomestic market by 2012.
Though currently owning only two Boeing 737s, Sky Express is offering tickets from Moscow to the Black Sea and other destinations for as little as $19–hoping to win passengers who now opt for the slow but cheap railways. “The only place on the planet where there are no low cost airlines is Russia,” airline spokesman Vitaly Korenyugin told The Associated Press.
Initially, the company, which is modeling itself on fast growth seen by European budget carriers Ryanair and easyJet, will fly two flights daily to the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Korenyugin said it would eventually expand its fleet to eight Boeings by the spring, flying to destinations in the Ural mountains, Siberia and the southern Russia.
