Russian airlines’ May passenger traffic was down only 19.7 per cent on 2019

:: SIP

According to preliminary data published by Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsiya, country’s carriers served collectively 8.87 million passengers in May 2021, down only 19.7 per cent on May of the pre-crisis 2019. Increased domestic market activity contributed to the positive traffic recovery trend. RPKs are still lagging as only a handful of international air connections have been restored, in May RPK was down 33 per cent on the same month of 2019, to 17.8 billion.

In May 2020 the across the board travel restrictions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic reduced Russian airlines’ traffic by 91 per cent, to just 946,000 passengers.

In May 2021 Russia’s market leader Aeroflot served 1.61 million passengers, which is 46 per cent below 2019 level. Privately owned S7 Airlines carried 1.54 million passengers – virtually the same number, as its once separate divisions Siberia and Globus served collectively in the year before the crisis. More than 1.24 million passengers traveled with Aeroflot Group’s low-cost subsidiary Pobeda Airlines, which represents over 30 per cent growth on the pre-pandemic level. Yekaterinburg-based privately-run Ural Airlines carried 760,900 passengers, just seven per cent down on May 2019. The fifth largest, Rossiya Airlines, also part of Aeroflot Goup, carried 742,200 passengers. The combined traffic of Aeroflot Group’s three carriers was down 28.8 per cent on the pre-pandemic level.

TOP-5 Russian airlines’ passenger traffic in May 2021 (compared to May 2019)

1. (1) Aeroflot                     1.61 mln pass.;   – 46 per cent
2. (2) S7 Airlines                1.54 mln pass.;    – 0.1 per cent
3. (4) Pobeda                       1.24 mln pass.;     + 30.6 per cent
4. (5) Ural Airlines             0.76 mln pass.;   – 7.5 per cent
5. (3) Rossiya                       0.74 mln pass.;   – 25.9 per cent

In the first five months of this year Russian airlines served 32.96 million passengers, down 26.8 per cent on the same period of 2019. RPKs were down 41.2 per cent to 67 billion.