History
The company Budget Carrier, LLC was registered on 16 September 2014 with Aeroflot as the only shareholder. It is the second attempt of Aeroflot to form a low-cost carrier, after Dobrolet, which ceased operation in August 2014. Pobeda received an air operator's certificate on 11 November 2014, and commerced its maiden flight on 1 December of the same year,[14] from Moscow-Vnukovo to Volgograd. The carrier surpassed 2 million passengers in September 2015, after nine months of operation.[15]
The airline had hoped to introduce a Moscow to Bratislava service in October 2015,[16] but the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency turned down an application to operate international flights as the airline has to operate internally for at least two years first.[17] Bratislava Airport and Pobeda, however, announced the launch of first international flight to Bratislava, to be commenced on 19 December 2015. Pobeda also marketed their service from Moscow to Vienna, Austria via a fly-and-ride scheme, with a bus trip from Bratislava to Vienna included as part of the service.[15]
In December 2015, Pobeda cancelled their planned route to Salzburg after only 34 tickets were sold.[18]
In August 2018, Pobeda announced that registration of passengers at foreign airports will be charged a fee of 25 euros per person.[19] This caused a wide public outcry, and in December 2018 the Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor's Office filed a lawsuit against such a decision of the airline.[20]
In October 2019, the court ruled that the airline should cancel the registration fee for passengers at foreign airports.[21] In response, Pobeda announced an increase in ticket prices from abroad by 40%.[22]
In August 2021, Andrey Kalmykov, CEO of Pobeda, delivered a skeptical point of view of state aid to Russian airline companies, describing any cancellations and bans of air routes and destinations as commercial risks.[23]
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, lessors sought to recover their aircraft from Pobeda.[24] Sanctions were placed over the shipping of spare parts for aircraft. Andrey Kalmykov resigned as CEO and left the company.
