The government of the Russian exclave of Kalinigrad is considering establishing its own budget carrier to boost its connectivity with other European capitals.
According to RBTH news, Vladimir Zarudny, the CEO of the Kaliningrad Region Development Corporation, told the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia this week that the proposed carrier, which is still in the development stage, would aim to connect Kaliningrad Khrabrovo Airport with cities such as Berlin, Riga, Prague Václav Havel, Warsaw Chopin, and Minsk National using small turboprop aircraft.
"We want to create our airline according to the model of state-private partnership in order to guarantee a stable and reasonable ticket price," he said.
International flights to Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, are currently limited to occasional charter flights to neighboring Belarus and other CIS states although Vueling Airlines (VY, Barcelona El Prat) will run a 2x weekly service to Barcelona El Prat between May and September of this year.
Kaliningrad had its own airline, KD Avia (Kaliningrad), which operated a fleet of thirteen B737-300s using Khrabrovo as a transit hub for flights connecting Western Europe and Russia. However, it ceased all operations in 2009 citing financial difficulties.
