Russian airlines’ January through May traffic declined

In the first five months of 2025 Russian airlines carried collectively 40.38 million passengers, which is 81,500 passengers (or 0.2 per cent) less than for the same period last year, according to the statistics published by the country’s Air Transport Operators Association.

In the domestic segment, the traffic declined 1.3 per cent to 30.05 million passengers, whilst international traffic ticked up 3.3 per cent to 10.34 million passengers. According to the association, international traffic growth was driven only by the long-haul routes (up 10.9 per cent), whilst the number of travelers between Russia and other CIS countries actually dropped by 6.94 per cent.

“The trends are caused by redistribution of the airlines’ existing capacities in favor of long-haul routes, and reduction of capacities in other segments,” the report concludes.

The data provided in the report also sheds light on traffic volumes in May, when the Russian air transport industry was severely crippled by massive airport closures due to frequent dron attacks.

After a relatively successful April, when both domestic and international traffic showed a climbing tendency for the first time this year, overall traffic volumes in May once again declined by 1.4 per cent (to 6.9 million passengers) and grew slightly (by 1.2 per cent) to 2.3 million passengers on international routes only.

According to local aviation authority Rosaviatsia, Aeroflot, Pobeda, S7 Airlines, Rossiya and Ural Airlines remained the country’s largest airlines. In January-May they accounted for 70.7% of the country’s total traffic.