Kuban Airlines ceases operations, the last vestige of LCC SkyExpress? UTair gains most

Kuban Airlines ceased operations on 11-Dec-2012, filing for bankruptcy with the Krasnodar Region Arbitration Court. It had been in financial difficulties for some time. Kuban Airlines accounted for just under 16,000 seats per week to Russia's aviation market, ranking it the 20th largest carrier in the country based on weekly seats offered, according to Innovata data.

The bankruptcy filing also apparently spells the end for the first of Russia's mostly unhappy LCCs. Established in 2006, the former self-standing LCC, SkyExpress, had been folded into Kuban in Oct-2011 and operated under its own brand as a low cost division under Kuban's AOC, while retaining the SkyExpress identity.

Some Russian carriers have already signalled their intention to step in to replace services on some routes and UTair stands to benefit most from the collapse, particularly on domestic services from Moscow Vnukovo Airport.