Aeroflot chief calls for ‘LCC airports’ in Russia – are they needed?

CAPA has regularly reported on the phenomenon of the low cost airport and terminal, and when its 2007 and 2009 reports on the subject were published it was a phenomenon; there were examples of the type springing up on most continents - some of them as basic as garden sheds, while others were 'Taj Mahals' (to use an analogy beloved of some airline executives).

But latterly those airports and terminals are not as popular as they were. Much new thinking seems to be directed towards how best to handle full service, low cost and hybrid models within the same terminal building, and infrastructure adaptation is more typically that of a pier rather than an entire terminal; let alone an airport.

Against that background, the call by a senior airline executive for new minimalistic airports to be constructed in Russia, where low-cost penetration remains moderate at best, may indicate that this is where Aeroflot sees the future heading, as business travel slows.