Russian commercial aviation market shrank slower in June

Compared to May results, traffic in June demonstrated softer decline (Photo by Fyodor Borisov / transport-photo.com)

Russian airlines’ cumulative traffic in June decreased 11.3% compared to the same period last year, to 8.714 million passengers, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency. Although the market continued shrinking at a double-digit rate, the trend has somewhat slowed compared to the 14.3% decrease in May.

The domestic traffic in June amounted to 5.623 million passengers, up 4.6% YOY, a positive development compared to May’s minimal growth of 1.6%. International traffic plummeted 30.5%, to 3.091 million passengers (down 32.9% in May).

Since the beginning of the year, Russian airlines served 38.066 million passengers, 7.6% fewer than for the same period last year. From January to June domestic traffic reached 24.674 million passengers (up 7.7% YOY), international traffic decreased 26.8%, to 13.392 million passengers.

Against the background of the shrinking market, Russia’s largest airlines’ shares continue to grow. In the first half-year, all top carriers demonstrated traffic growth: Pobeda (+80.7%), Globus (S7 Airlines Group; +35.7%), Rossiya (+26%), S7 Airlines (+19.4%), Ural Airlines (+17.7%), UTair (+14%) and Aeroflot (+12.2%).