airberlin and NIKI to continue commitment to Russian in 2013

airberlin and NIKI announced (20-Feb-2013) plans to continue their commitment to Russia in 2013 as part of the airlines' strategy for Eastern Europe. airberlin CCO Paul Gregorowitsch said, "Russia is an important core market" for the airlines and said the airlines are "pleased that our stable market position in Russia is steadily developing and we have plans to consolidate further in this area". in 2012 airberlin and NIKI carried around 740,000 passengers on routes between Germany, Austria and Russia. Mr Gregorowitsch said increasing numbers of its passengers from Russia are transferring in Berlin, Dusseldorf and Vienna to connecting services. airberlin and NIKI have operated codeshare services with S7 Airlines which "has proved highly successful" according to Mr Gregorowitsch. airberlin restructured its sales team in Russia with Julia Vorotnikova responsible for sales activities in Russia with four colleagues and reports to airberlin area manager Eastern Europe Mohammed Nasr. [more - original PR]