OREANDA-NEWS. Aeroflot has held a seasonal InstaMeet at its home base of Sheremetyevo International Airport to mark the departure of 25 Grandfather Frosts — the Russian Father Christmas — laden with presents for children around the country.

The InstaMeet was organised by Yekaterina Mishchenkova, a creative conceptualist and member of the Union of Photographers of Russia. Instagrammers from across Russia took part, and their work can be seen on Instagram under the #ConceptAeroflot2016 и #ДедМорозинг hashtags.

The Grandfather Frosts posed for hundreds of photographs with Aeroflot passengers and for scenic shots in Sheremetyevo’s Terminal D, outside against the backdrop of Aeroflot aircraft and onboard an Airbus A330.

«This year has been a real Instagram year for Aeroflot,» said Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Saveliev. «We have organised a number of great projects with Instagrammers. We have taken them to see our training facilities, our aircraft hangers and our airport infrastructure. We have organised photo projects at Lake Baikal and in Crimea, as well as several events for international IGers and a huge InstaMeet at Old Trafford in conjunction with Manchester United, for whom Aeroflot has acted as official carrier for a number of years.»

«I am delighted to have organised Aeroflot’s final InstaMeet of 2015 with a festive New Year’s theme,» said Yekaterina Mishchenkova. «The faces of people in the airport lit up when they saw our group of Grandfather Frosts and they automatically reached for their telephone, thus becoming part of our mission. I am particularly pleased that Aeroflot is open to new suggestions and enthusiastically experiments with new formats while remaining true to its traditions! I would like to thank the company’s senior management for this amazing opportunity, and also to wish Aeroflot’s passengers all the best for the New Year.»

      

      

About Aeroflot 

Aeroflot is Russia’s flagship carrier and one of the largest airline groups in Europe. In 2014, Aeroflot carried 23.6 million passengers (34.7 million passengers as Aeroflot Group including subsidiaries), a record for any Russian airline. A proud member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance, Aeroflot and its partners serve 1,057 destinations in 179 countries worldwide. Aeroflot operates one of the youngest fleets in the world, numbering 167 Airbus, Boeing and Sukhoi airliners. Aeroflot is among the global leaders in aviation safety. The company’s European Community Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) Index, which is the main globally recognized safety parameter, is comparable to global peers. The first Russian carrier to enter the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) register, renewing its registration for the sixth time in 2015, Aeroflot has successfully passed the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) and is fully ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 compliant. In 2015 Aeroflot was named by SKYTRAX as the Best Airline in Eastern Europe for the fourth time. Find more at www.aeroflot.com.