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The Russian airline Aeroflot recently announced high-flying plans to absorb two Far Eastern airlines –Dalavia and Sakhalin Airlines – in an effort to create a unified airline to operate in the Russian Far East. Vladivostok-based Vladavia did not express any intention to be involved in the merger.

Aeroflot, Dalavia and Sakhalin Airlines decided to join their efforts to create a powerful airline operator in the Russian Far Eastern Federal District providing both domestic and international flights, Aeroflot announced in its press statement November 20.

The merger will increase the unified airline’s competitiveness as well as reinforce its financial and technical strength, the statement said. In this respect Khabarovsk may become the transportation hub of the district.

“The process of merging Russian airlines is inevitable, and our experience in working with Aeroflot revealed possibilities for an increase of passenger traffic and the improvement of our technical base,” director of the Khabarovsk-based Dalavia Pavel Sevastyanov commented, according to the statement.

Meanwhile Vladivostok Avia intends to keep its independence, the company’s representative Alexander Alexeyev said. “The Far Eastern airlines have their own understanding of the development and they are determined to follow their own way,” Alexeyev said according to Zolotoi Rog business weekly.

Established in 1923, Aeroflot is the country's largest air carrier, accounting for 39 percent of Russia's international air traffic and 11 percent of domestic flights. Aeroflot has 90 planes, 27 of which the company purchased abroad. In the first six months of 2006 the company garnered $135.8 million in net profit.