Ural Airlines reports 19% traffic growth for August

The carrier performed better than the market average (Leonid Faerberg / Transport Photo.com)

Ural Airlines, Russia’s fourth largest passenger carrier, saw its traffic grow 19% year-on-year in August. The Yekaterinburg-based operator served more than 966,100 passengers.

The frequency of the airline’s flights increased to 6,010, up 18% on the same month last year. Out of this number, 3,721 flights were domestic; a further 889 were operated within the CIS, and the remaining 1,400 to further abroad.

Ural Airlines reports that since the beginning of the year, its traffic has grown 23% year-on-year to 5.223 million passengers. The number of flights rose 16% to 36,092 (21,895 domestic, 6,616 within CIS, and 7,581 to further abroad). The growth rate was slightly higher in the first six months of the year, at 25%.

The airline’s traffic grew faster in August than the industry average. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency (FATA), Russian carriers’ overall passenger traffic increased 15% last month, to 11.8 million. In January-August, the country’s airlines transported 70.1 million passengers (up 19.9 year-on-year).

FATA has also published preliminary statistics on the top three Russian carriers’ performance in August. Flag carrier Aeroflot served 3.2 million passengers (+15.4%); its subsidiary Rossiya Airlines, 1.4 million (+26%). S7 Airlines, a subsidiary of S7 Group, carried 1.1 million passengers (+1.7%). Its sister carrier, Globus Airlines, demonstrated a faster growth. The difference is apparently explained by the group’s current strategy and its flexible approach to fleet management.