Russian carriers lost 1.2% of passenger traffic in 2015

Photo by Leonid Faerberg / Transport-Photo.com

Last year, Russian air carriers served 92.071 million passengers, 1.2% less compared to the previous year, reported the Federal Air Transport Agency. Domestic traffic grew by 13.6% to 52.563 million passengers. International traffic decreased by 15.8% to 39.508 million passengers. Traffic between Russia and the rest of the world outside the CIS countries declined the most, 18.6% to 32.307 million passengers, whereas traffic between Russia and the CIS countries slid down 0.6% to 7.201 million passengers.

December showed a record 11.9% decline, as the slight growth in domestic traffic (2.5%) could not compensate for the stalling international traffic (-30.7%).

The cargo segment was noticeably better off. In 2015, Russian airlines carried 1.064 million tonnes of cargo, 2.7% more than in 2014. December was even better than average with a 4% growth to 98,300 tonnes.

Out the Top-5 Russian carriers, three finished the year with growth: Aeroflot (+10,6%; 26.112 million passengers), S7 Airlines (+3,4%; 8.209 million passengers) and Ural Airlines (+5,5%; 5.445 million passengers). UTair’s traffic declined 35.3% to 5.54 million passengers following significant capacity cuts. Transаero, which stopped operation in October, carried 11.219 million passengers, 15% less than the year before.

Top 5 Russian Airlines, by passengers carried in 2015

Source: Federal Air Transport Agency