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| Launch date | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Full members | 5 |
| Destination airports | 134 |
| Destination countries | 13 |
| Annual passengers (M) | 4 |
| Fleet size | 100 |
| Management |
|
| Website | airunion.ru |
AiRUnion was a Russian airline alliance. It was the first airline alliance ever established in Russia. Member airlines and their affiliates enjoyed a high degree of co-operation in scheduling, ticketing,code sharing, flight transfer operations,frequent flyer program benefits, sharedairport lounges, reducing costs, and sharingbest practices. The airline and member carriers have since gone bankrupt in 2008. With government sponsorship, the alliance was planned to be resurrected asRossiya as of 2008.[1] However, this never took place.
This alliance was established asAirBridge. In October 2004 Russian airlinesKrasAir andDomodedovo Airlines set up a joint management company called AirBridge. KrasAir is owned by the city government ofKrasnoyarsk (51%) and AirBridge management (49%) (Boris Abramovich -CEO and his brother, Alexander Abramovich - deputy CEO, no relation toRoman Abramovich). While retaining separate legal identities the airlines were planning to integrate their networks and services, as they are largely complementary. In April 2007 AirBridge had purchasedMalév airline from Hungarian government. Boris Abramovich is also a CEO of AirUnion alliance.
The Abramovich brothers' aggressive expansion campaign led to the creation of AiRUnion alliance in 2005, the first airline alliance in Russia. It includedKrasAir,Domodedovo Airlines,Omskavia,Samara Airlines andSibaviatrans. On May 3, 2007 the five members of the AirUnion alliance were rolled into a similarly named holding company, OAO AirUnion, in which the Russian government holds no less than 45% of the shares.[2]
Although Malév was aOneworld member, in early 2007 AiRUnion began a codeshare withAustrian Airlines andLufthansa in its strategic expansion into European routes.[3]
AiRUnion was competing withS7 Airlines to become the second largest domestic carrier in Russia in 2007, afterAeroflot. AiRUnion carried 4.9 million passengers in 2006 compared to 8.75 million for Aeroflot.[4]
| Airline |
|---|
 Domodedovo Airlines |
| KrasAir |
| Omskavia |
| Samara Airlines |
| Sibaviatrans |
AiRUnion had one premium level, Premium, based on a customer's tier status in afrequent flyer program. Each member and regional airline recognized AiRUnion Premium status, with only a few exceptions, mainly pertaining to airport lounge access. Status has no specific requirements; membership is based solely on the frequent flyer programs of individual member airlines. Benefits of AiRUnion Premium membership included free tickets, transportation of additional luggage and discounts of alliance program participants.
Media related toAiRUnion at Wikimedia Commons
