Leonardo (flight reservation system)

Main article: Air ticket booking systems

History

2025:140 million trips through Leonardo. Ministry of Transport summed up the results of IT import substitution in aviation

The Russian reservation system Leonardo, developed by Siren and Rostec, has provided more than 140 million passenger flights since its introduction in 2022. Some results of IT import substitution in aviation in the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation were announced in January 2025. Read more here.

2024

21% increase in traffic

On February 6, 2025, Deputy General Director of Rostec State Corporation Alexander Nazarov announced an increase in the number of air transportation in the Leonardo booking system by 21% in 2024 compared to 2023. This confirms the effectiveness of replacing foreign analogues.

According to Rostec, the Leonardo passenger service platform is a completely domestic development created by the joint efforts of RT-Design Technologies and Siren-Travel. The system operates in accordance with the standards of the International Air Transport Association, ensuring the automation of all necessary processes for partner airlines.

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Фото: Freepik

The developers significantly expanded the functionality of the system in 2024. An innovative settlement system has been introduced that allows you to use the accumulated miles of one airline to pay for flights of another carrier. For example, bonus points Aeroflot"" can now be used to purchase airline tickets. "Victory"

A significant improvement was the possibility of purchasing tickets immediately before the end of check-in for the flight. This innovation significantly expanded the time frame for passengers who previously could buy tickets no later than one or two days before departure, depending on the policy of a particular airline.

The system received advanced options for choosing a seat on the aircraft, available at all stages of passenger service until the completion of check-in. The number of partner airlines exceeded 60 organizations.

The platform is actively entering the international aviation transportation market. The main directions for exporting the Russian software solution are determined by the states of Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.^[1]

Malfunction

On November 29, 2024, Aeroflot announced a large-scale failure in the Leonardo booking system (Siren-Travel). Users have encountered numerous problems when issuing, re-issuing and returning tickets. In addition, the provision of additional services is limited.

Aeroflot said in an official statement that failures are observed in all airline sales channels: this is a website, contact center and agents. At the same time, the passenger registration system at the airport, on the website and in the mobile application functions as usual.

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Фото: Freepik

At the moment, the service provider is taking measures to restore the system to normal operation as soon as possible. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused, - noted in the notification of Aeroflot.

As noted, the RBC problem is associated with malfunctions in the cloud platform. Yandex Cloud The presence of failures is also indicated: Roskomnadzor according to the department, the incident affected banking services and telecom operators. Izhavia Airlines also reported on the difficulties with ticket sales: the purchase of tickets on the carrier's website and at points of sale is not available. Yandex said that in one of the three accessibility zones of the cloud platform there are "problems with network connectivity," while the other two work normally. The incident led to the degradation of services and applications of some clients.

According to preliminary data, the problem is associated with technical problems on the side of one of the cloud services used to ensure the functioning of these services. Specialists are already working to diagnose and fix the problem. It is expected that the work of the services will be restored in the near future, - said the Center for Monitoring and Management of the Public Communications Network (CMU SSOP).[2]

2023

Aeroflot: Leonardo booking system crashed, tickets cannot be bought

On December 7, 2023, Aeroflot reported a failure of the Leonardo booking system, as a result of which users had problems buying air tickets. Read more here.

Global failure after a massive DDoS attack from abroad. Restoration

A global failure occurred in the Russian Leonardo flight booking system. The corresponding message was published on the Aeroflot website on September 28, 2023. As RBC specified in the state corporation "Rostec," the system was subjected to a massive DDoS attack from abroad.

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Фото: moskvichmag.ru

Due to a global failure in the Leonardo booking system (Siren-Travel), registration at the airports of the company's route network is difficult. At the moment, the service provider is taking measures to restore the normal operation of the system as soon as possible, "Aeroflot said[3]

Similar messages were published in their Telegram channels of Pobeda and Rossiya airlines.

Later, Aeroflot stated that the Leonardo system was restored, difficulties with registration at the airports of the company's route network were eliminated. This information was confirmed by RBC in Rostec^[4]

"Attacks on the domestic Leonardo booking system go on a regular basis. In recent months, there have been dozens of them, including about five attempts recorded in September. The attacks are large-scale and unprecedented in the number of resources involved. Obviously, a real cyber war is being waged against the country, the purpose of which is to damage the Russian IT infrastructure and disrupt the work of the most important industries, "the Rostec press service told RBC.

Leonardo is developed by the Russian company Sirena-Travel in partnership with the state corporation Rostec.

On September 22, 2023, the media reported that hackers allegedly managed to hack into the Siren-Travel database, which contained information about airline passengers, their insurance, as well as other personal data. The message about the hack was published on the Telegram channel of the KibOrg hacker community. According to them, a certain Muppets group is behind the hack. According to hackers, the hack yielded about 3.5 billion records, including passenger phone numbers, and 664.6 million records with personal data, flight numbers, routes, fares and other information. This data covers the period from 2007 to 2023.^[5]

2022

All Russian airlines switched to domestic booking systems after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine

All 53 Russian airlines switched to domestic booking systems, as reported by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation on November 1, 2022. The department stressed that thanks to such import substitution, information security and protection of personal data of passengers and crews, independence of passenger traffic from foreign systems, possible failures and outages are ensured. Read more here.

Rostec announced its readiness to transfer airlines to the Russian booking system per day

On April 4, 2022, Rostec announced its readiness to transfer airlines to the Russian booking system per day. We are talking about the Leonardo platform developed by Siren-Travel (the company is affiliated with the state corporation Rostec).

According to the press service of Rostec, the Russian reservation system was created in two versions - mainly (for the gradual planned transition of airlines) and reserve (for emergency connection and ensuring stable operation of the industry in case of excesses). The standby system is ready for the emergency transition mode in a short time (up to 24 hours). At the same time, all services for the sale, e-commerce, service and registration of passengers at airports will be available seamlessly.

Migration of airlines to the Russian booking system - Rostec

By the beginning of April 2022, system tests were carried out with the participation of the largest carriers in order to work out the necessary organizational and technological measures and train airline personnel. The system has already been implemented in more than 50 airlines with a traffic volume of over 40 million passengers per year, including Red Wings, Aurora, Rusline, Yamal, UTair, Alrosa, etc.

{{quote 'The transition of airlines to domestic software is designed to ensure a sufficient level of stability of booking and data protection systems. The conversation about this has been going on for several years, but only now many market participants are beginning to understand the seriousness of the problems, "said Alexander Nazarov, deputy head of Rostec. }} The system is finalized for each airline taking into account the IT landscape and individual requirements without attracting budget or airline funds. As a result, carriers receive a competitive service based on the domestic solution, with a parallel reduction in the volume of current costs for maintaining the booking system, since the tariffs of the domestic system are lower than imported ones.^[6]

2019: Medvedev ordered the developers of ticket booking systems to transfer the data of Russians to servers in the Russian Federation

In early August 2019, the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree that obliges manufacturers of air ticket booking systems for domestic flights to transfer Russia servers to with personal data of passengers. More. here

Notes