Aeroflot Plans To Resume Moscow-Varadero: Will It Work?

Aeroflot Plans To Resume Moscow-Varadero: Will It Work?
Fedor Leukhin, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
James Field - Editor in Chief 3 Min Read
3 Min Read

With Aeroflot planning to resume services between Moscow-Varadero, we ask the following question: Will it work in the face of airspace sanctions?

According to sources, Aeroflot will utilize a Rossiya Airlines Boeing 777-300ER to operate services on a twice-weekly basis.

It is understood that SU6927 will depart Moscow at 0910 and arrive in Varadero at 1530, both local times.

The return, SU6928, will depart at 1910 and arrive back in the Russian capital at 1445 the next day.

Will Aeroflot’s Restart of Moscow-Varadero Work?


Aeroflot Plans To Resume Moscow-Varadero: Will It Work?
Fedor Leukhin, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

One question to ask is that in the wake of airspace bans, will this Moscow-Varadero route work?

With the increasing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the West is taking strict measures by imposing harsh airspace utilization rights to Russian-registered airlines and aircraft, thus blocking access to European, USA, and South American markets.

But amidst this, the Russian carriers have, over the last year, found another innovative way to reach the quadrant airspace in Europe, the United States, and Canada by immensely modifying their flight path over their usual route to cross North Atlantic and arrive in Northern America.

Aeroflot Plans To Resume Moscow-Varadero: Will It Work?
Data provided by RadarBox.com.

An example of this unusual flight path was observed when NordWind Airlines flight 514 took quite an unusual path to cross North Atlantic to Moscow from Samana, the Dominican Republic, on Monday, 7th March 2022.

Overall…


Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From a financial standpoint, this will cost carriers more money in fuel and operating costs as it will take longer to get there.

That being said, if the demand is strong enough, and the pricing is right for the carriers and the consumer, it could potentially work. But I wouldn’t hold your breath.

Operationally, the Russian carriers are suffering from a lack of spare parts, which is potentially why Aeroflot has contracted Rossiya to operate these services between Moscow and Varadero.

It will be interesting to see how these routes perform and whether there is a way for Aeroflot to circumvent these airspace bans further.

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