By Mike Eckel
The Russian Far East has just gotten a little bit farther away.
The Seattle-based Alaska Airlines announced that beginning Oct. 8 it will halt its weekly winter service between Seattle and the Russian Far East. Citing the unprofitability of the flights and the current state of the regional and national economy, Alaska’s vice president of marketing and planning, Gregg Paretsky, said the company would halt the scheduled flights. The airline has been operating in the Far East since 1991 and Vladivostok since 1993.
“We regret having to make this decision, but recent circumstances with the Russian economy have made our current operations uneconomical,” Paretsky said in a statement.
Yevgeny Tifonov, commercial service director for Vladivostok Avia and the Vladivostok airport, said the loss is a blow to Primorye’s morale and its efforts to strengthen its ties with the U.S. West Coast.
“We’re very, very sorry that they have decided to halt operations here,” Tifonov said.
With government approval, Alaska will continue to provide service to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in coordination with its marketing partner, the Anchorage-based Reeve Aleutian Airways, the statement said.
Alaska entered the Vladivostok market with great fanfare. The state governor and the airline’s president flew on the first trip to Vladivostok in April 1993, and local press gushed over the American-style service.
“Instead of Aeroflot’s much maligned chicken, passengers will be treated to meals prepared in the U.S.,” the daily Vladivostok wrote.
But in addition to the ruble crisis, Alaska has faced stiff competition this year from Aeroflot. Aeroflot lowered prices to $560 round-trip to Seattle, compared to an Alaska rate of more than twice that. Alaska soon lowered fares, but couldn’t match Aeroflot’s prices.
Industry observers agree that the Primorye’s sputtering economy won’t suffer from the loss of the only other carrier aside from Aeroflot to fly direct to Seattle. But Anchorage-bound passengers may find themselves scrambling for tickets in the future.
“Particularly, from the point of view of passengers, this is a negative move,” said Andrei Stotsky, service director for international carriers at the Vladivostok airport. “There will be fewer options now.”
The Khabarovsk-based regional representative for Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines, Vladimir Bystrov, said that while Alaska’s decision was abrupt and certainly high-profile, the decision to shut down the line wasn’t surprising.
“Many airlines are cutting back their flights to the Far East, in light of the economic situation here,” he said. “This was a wise decision to stop flights. The market is now more balanced.”
Bystrov acknowledged that with Aeroflot remaining the only carrier flying direct to the United States, the company stands to profit from Alaska’s decision. There may be increased passenger traffic and revenues. However, beginning in October, Aeroflot itself will cut back its flights to the United States from Vladivostok and Khabarovsk to once a week from each port.
Chong Soo Lee, Korean Airlines’s Vladivostok representative, said he didn’t expect a significant increase in passenger traffic resulting from the Alaska shutdown, either.
Tifonov added that a Sept. 22 meeting between his company and Alaska’s director of international flights, Kit Cooper, should clarify Alaska’s intentions in the Far East and the possibility for reopening the flights in the future.
In other airline news, Vladivostok Avia announced Sept. 14 it would halt flights to several of the krai’s northern territories. The company said its primary reason was the unwillingness of the Krai Duma to subsidize the flights to Plastun and Kavalerovsky County.
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