OREANDA-NEWS. November 01, 2008. The call center of S7 Airlines, Russia’s largest air carrier by number of transported passengers on domestic routes, took its three millionth call from the day it opened in March 2005, reported the press-centre of S7 Airlines.

Every day the S7 Airlines call center processes up to 5,000 calls in its multi-channel system to its toll-free (in Russia) number: 8-800-200-000-7.

More than 80 operators work in the call center and each operator processes 200 calls per shift on average. Most of the calls (70%) are requests to obtain information about fares, the schedule, transport rules and addresses of sales offices. Twenty percent of the calls are associated with the support of online airline ticket sales on the company’s website www.S7.ru. Ten percent of the calls are for the purpose of booking airline tickets.

“The number of calls to the S7 Airlines Call Center has been increasing by 40% every year. This is due not only to the general increase in passengers, but also the introduction of new services.

Since 2007 operators have been providing information on the travel services of S7 Tour and providing support in visa-related matters. In the near future the company plans to implement a service that allows flight booking and payment by credit or debit card through the call center,” said S7 Airlines Commercial Director Vadim Besperstov.

The equipment of the call center can handle more than 100 calls simultaneously. If there is no operator available, the call is put in a queue. The waiting time is usually under 6 seconds.

Besides the single toll-free number for calls throughout Russia: 8-800-200-000-7, the call center has special local numbers in 15 Russian cities: Barnaul, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Krasnodar, Kemerovo, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, Perm, Sochi, Khabarovsk, Novokuznetsk and Chelyabinsk.

Besides taking calls, the operators of the call center inform passengers about changes to the schedule, provide assistance in ordering electronic tickets and process messages that are received via the website and directly from the passengers. The call center processes more than 7,000 emails per month.