A productive October for Russian airlines with an 11 per cent improvement

Budget carrier Pobeda grew the most among those in the top-five listing, after 36 per cent more passengers were carried in October allowing it to regain third place in the league of Russia’s largest airlines (Pobeda)

The collective traffic growth of Russia’s airlines returned to double digits in October. The country’s carriers transported a combined total of 11 million passengers during the month, up 11 per cent on the same period last year, according to preliminary figures released by Rosaviatsiya, the country’s aviation authority. This performance contrasts positively with the modest four per cent improvement recorded in September.

Passenger turnover in the month grew significantly by 15.7 per cent, reaching 28.3 billion RPKs.

Market leader Aeroflot carried 3.2 million passengers in October, a flat result in terms of growth for the second month in a row, whilst the privately-run S7 Airlines, the nation’s second biggest overall, continued its solid growth with 1.2 million passengers transported in the month, up by 19.5 per cent over last year’s period.

Russia’s only low-cost carrier (LCC) Pobeda – a member of Aeroflot Group – improved the most among the top-five, with a significant 36 per cent boost in passengers carried, reaching a total of 943,000, placing the budget carrier in third place, just ahead of fellow Aeroflot Group member Rossiya Airlines, which served 941,000 passengers, a 14 per cent improvement on the same period of last year.

In the month, the privately owned Yekaterinburg-based Ural Airlines (number five in the list) experienced a business growth of nine per cent, serving 875,000 passengers.

In the January to October 2019 period, the total number of passengers carried by Russia’s airlines is estimated at 110.26 million, an increase of 11 per cent in the period, as passenger turnover reached 276 billion RPKs, up by 13 per cent year-on-year.