Aeroflot passenger traffic grows 6% in August

The largest growth of Aeroflot's passenger traffic was registered on international flights (Photo by Aeroflot)

Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot registered a 6.1% growth in passenger traffic in August this year. The airline carried 2.814 million passengers versus 2.653 million during the same period of 2015. The positive trend was demonstrated on both domestic and international routes, although the latter grew more intensively.

In August the airline’s passenger flow within international flights increased 8.8% and comprised 1.458 million people, while on domestic flights it went up 3.2% (1.356 million passengers). At the same time, the load factor on domestic flights grew by 3.2 pp to reach the overall rate of 92.2% whereas on international flights, on the contrary, it decreased 0.6 pp and hit the point of 86.5%. The totaling factor, however, showed a 0.6 pp growth up to 86.5%.

There are two factors that the company names as possible reasons for such positive developments. Firstly, a whole set of international operators reduced their frequencies to Russia. And secondly, the number of transit passengers in the airline’s base airport of Sheremetyevo has increased. Apart from that, redistribution of passenger traffic after the demise of Russia’s second biggest airline Transaero within both domestic and international routes is still going on, Aeroflot explained.

Aeroflot’s passenger traffic has grown 10.2% up to 19.033 million people since the beginning of this year. Its foreign and domestic flights have served 9.697 million passengers (+7.5%) and 9.337 million passengers (+13.1%), respectively. The overall load factor has grown 1.7% and reached 81.6%.

Recently disclosed information shows that all major operational performance indicators of Aeroflot Group have also improved (apart from Aeroflot itself, the group includes Rossya, Aurora and LCC Pobeda). The passenger traffic in August grew 6.4% up to 4.536 million passengers. International and domestic flights served 1.91 million (+14.4%) and 2.626 million (+1.2%) passengers respectively. The load factor hit 89.7 % (+2.3 pp).

Since the beginning of the year the Group’s traffic has increased 8.9% and reached 28.657 million passengers with 11.85 million passengers serviced within international flights (+9.0%) and 16.79 million people within domestic flights (+8.8%). The load factor has reached 81.9% (+2.9 pp).

As for cargo traffic, the Group demonstrated an impressive 25% growth (17,637 tons) in August. Since the beginning of the year the freight traffic has gone up by 14.7% and comprised 1,183,555 tons.

Within the first eight months of the year the net growth of the company’s fleet constituted 15 aircraft (including introduction of new ones and phasing out of ageing aircraft). The total fleet of the Aeroflot Group has increased by 22 airplanes and currently consists of 280 aircraft. The available capacity of the four airlines has grown by 18.2%.

Apart from Aeroflot and Rossiya, the first five of Russian airlines in terms of passenger traffic is formed by S7 Airlines (Sibir), UTair and  Ural Airlines. The S7 Group (includes Sibir and Globus) and Ural Airlines have already reported passenger growth in August. The former has registered a 26.1% increase, while the growth of the Ekaterinburg-based operator constituted 12%.