SkyExpress: to Fly or not to Fly - that is the Question

The airline was established in March 2006 by a consortium of investors which included KrasAir CEO Boris Abrmovich, EBRD, Altima Partners and others, becoming the Russia's first low-cost airline. The first flight took off on 29 January 2007 from Moscow to Sochi.

 

 

As of June 2008, the Sky Express destinations are: Kaliningrad (Khrabrovo Airport), Kazan (Kazan International Airport), Moscow (Vnukovo Airport) hub, Murmansk (Murmansk Airport), Perm (Bolshoye Savino Airport), Rostov on Don (Rostov-on-Don Airport), Saint Petersburg (Pulkovo Airport), Sochi (Adler-Sochi International Airport), Tyumen (Roschino Airport), Yekaterinburg (Koltsovo Airport), Chelyabinsk (Chelyabinsk Balandino Airport) and Samara (Kurumoch Airport).

 

The Sky Express fleet consists of the following aircraft: Boeing 737-300 and Boeing 737-500. The average age of the Sky Express fleet is 17.5 years.  

 

There are many obvious advantages when flying with Sky Express. Sky Express makes it simple and convenient to reserve and pay for your Sky Express seat. Simply reserve and pay by a credit card or debit card on the Sky Express website or at the nearest office of a Sky Express partner.

The broad Sky Express partner network makes it very convenient.

 

Paying for your flight is now as simple as for your mobile phone. Sky Express Fares are affordable. Sky Express offers lower fares. Sky Express offers a simple fare structure: the earlier you reserve your seat, the less you pay. Sky Express flies from convenient Vnukovo Airport

Vnukovo is the closest airport to Moscow City Center. Modern luxurious trains provide frequent nonstop service between Vnukovo Airport and Kiev Railway Station in Moscow.

 

Sky Express operates a fleet of modern Boeing 737 planes. A single aircraft-type fleet saves cost.

A partnership with Boeing, the world's leading aircraft manufacturer, provides greater reliability.

Sky Express provides frequent convenient schedules. Sky Express offers additional onboard services for your convenience.  

 

When you buy your ticket on Sky Express, you pay only for the cost of the flight. We will offer a menu of tasty snacks and beverages at attractive prices that you will be able to select and pay for onboard.

 

In addition, onboard the plane, you will be able to purchase pre-paid mobile phone cards, bank debit cards and travel insurance. Our flight attendents will be happy to advise you and make hotel and restaurant reservations for you, and can reserve an airport taxi for you. You can pay for these services directly onboard.

 

Alas, there are many drawbacks in the company’s services as well. As we do not travel by air very often, we will just try to tell you what we have seen ourselves and what we have been told by other passengers.

 

First of all, Sky Express flights almost never depart in time. Usually the company keeps waiting until the sufficient number of passengers is accumulated for a flight regardless the scheduled departure time. Thus, when you arrive at the airport to the check-in we may find out that it has not started yet: it can take you up to 3 hours to get onboard finally.   

 

Transit tourists can easily face a possibility to miss their next plane at a transit airport due to the mentioned delays. However, you can carefully plan your route and flight schedule in advance in order to deal with that problem.

 

The airline promises each passenger who will make 10 flights with Sky Express one free flight. However, according to some passengers, they have experienced problems with receiving the reward.

 

When you buy your ticket on Sky Express, you will pay only for the cost of the flight. The airline offers a full range of additional services and you will be able to select and pay for only those services that you desire. Unfortunately, it has revealed that not every passenger is aware of the fact that he or she has to pay for food and beverages during the flight, as the service is quite new for Russia. Thus, many of them blame the airline for dishonest attitude.  

 

Although newspapers are generally available free of charge on board, not all of them are the most recent. As to the comfortable and convenient cabin, it is just the same as any of the economy-class cabin around the world. 

 

However, the cabin crews are usually friendly and attentive to the passengers and do their best to lower tensions caused by delays. So, the money you pay for a low-cost flight is worth the service.