Russia’s airlines increase their passenger traffic by 11.8 per cent

Rossiya Airlines, currently ranked fourth, served 2.74 million passengers, up 5.9 per cent y-on-y (Sheremetyevo)

In the first four months of 2019, Russia’s airlines collectively transported some 34.1 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 11.8 per cent, according to the latest data released by the country’s Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsiya.

In the period, Aeroflot, Russia’s national airline and its largest operator, carried 11.5 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 12.6 per cent and Russia’s second biggest airline, S7 (Sibir), grew by 11 per cent to 3.4 million passengers.

The fastest growth performance in the country’s top-five airlines table came from low-cost carrier Pobeda – which is part of the Aeroflot Group – which enjoyed a 45 per cent surge by serving 2.7 million passengers.

All five of the country’s biggest airlines – Aeroflot, S7, Pobeda, Rossiya Airlines and Ural Airlines — demonstrated steady growth in the period, collectively transporting some 23 million passengers, increasing their combined market share of Russia’s airlines’ total traffic to 67.4 per cent (from 66 per cent last year).

Fifteen of the largest airlines were collectively responsible for 93.4 per cent of the overall traffic numbers.

Of the top 20, the fastest growth in the four months came from start-up Azimuth Airlines (16th), which expanded by 151.3 per cent after transporting some 328,000 passengers. Yamal Airlines (14th) demonstrated the weakest results in the group with 360,000 passengers, down by 16.6 year-on-year.