11/08/2019 16:36

Excess of Flights to Cuba

[IMG=18989-4644] The situation with flights to Cuba still remains problematic (news/29.12, 18.01). You may recall from earlier News bulletins that in January, 2006, two additional flights to Cuba were launched. As a result at present there are three weekly Moscow-Gavana flights by Aeroflot and a Moscow –Varadero flight by Transaero which flies every ten days. Transaero consolidates a pool involving such travel market players as CAPITAL TOUR, South Cross Travel Bureau and a group of companies Puteshestvyi! (Travel!), while TEZ TOUR and ISC Travel Group book blocks from Aeroflot. Therefore, travel companies have to fill flights by means of price decreasing by $200-300, that affects their profits. Vladimir Romanov, Director of Caribbean Club commented on the situation as follows: ‘the policy of the majority of travel companies is to fight for tourists. Therefore, they reduce prices in order to redistribute a tourist flow and to make Cuba a competitive destination. Consequently, reducing prices, they earn less’. Furthermore, travel market players point out minimum difference between prices offered by the pools. ‘Transaero launched a short charter chain, therefore prices do not differ from Aeroflot regular flights’, stated Carlos Gonzales, the Head of Caribbean Department of ICS Travel Group. However, tour operators prefer Aeroflot due to the high-frequency of flights which allows varying the duration of tours. Meanwhile, the direct charter to Varadero by Transaero is also marketable as it is convenient for those who prefer to spend their holidays at the beach. Reduced prices stimulated the demand that, according to experts, increased at 60% comparing to last year. That resulted in the shortage of economy class hotels. ‘At the moment 2 and 3* hotels are especially popular with Russian tourists, although before 4-5* hotels were among their main priorities’, said Carlos Gonzales. Nevertheless, the increased demand can not cover the existing traffic volume. In general, experts divide opinion that with the current demand there should be one flight fewer. According to the forecasts, the traffic volume will not be reduced until spring.