Strong Recovery: Russian Aviation Nears Pre-Pandemic Levels

Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, has published preliminary data for August 2021 passenger traffic, and the figures look promising. Indeed, with just under 14 million passengers flying during the month, Russia was less than 4% shy of hitting pre-pandemic levels.

Aeroflot is Russia’s largest airline in terms of fleet and passenger traffic. Photo: Airbus

Almost back to pre-COVID times

Russian Aviation Insider reports that Russia’s carriers transported 13.9 million passengers over the month of August 2021. Indeed, this level of traffic is a mere 3.67% below August 2019 levels, before the global health crisis struck.

Of course, this achievement takes the country’s aviation market in the right direction, especially when considering that August 2020 levels were just two-thirds of August 2021 figures.

One significant factor still suppressing passenger traffic is the presence of international travel restrictions, severely restricting the global travel market.

Pobeda is a major budget airline in Russia. Photo: Pobeda

August 2021 passenger traffic numbers

There were clearly some big winners in the marketplace, while some other airlines still have a ways to go before making a full recovery. Here are the August 2021 traffic figures from Russian airlines, compared to August 2019 numbers:

1. Aeroflot had 2.7 million passengers, down 27% from 2019.
2. S7 had 1.89 million passengers, down 3.4% from 2019.
3. Budget airline Pobeda saw 1.5 million passengers, up an impressive 50% from 2019.
4. Rossiya carried 1.3 million passengers, which was a decrease of 13.3%
5. Ural Airlines had 1.2 million passengers, an increase of 10%

Russian Aviation Insider notes that Russia’s five largest airlines comprise roughly 65% of the entire market.

Aeroflot’s slower recovery is almost certainly due to international restrictions, while Pobeda’s surpassing of pre-pandemic traffic would likely be a result of these same international travel restrictions, as more Russians opt to travel domestically. Pobeda does operate internationally, but these operations are overshadowed by a long list of Russian destinations.

Numbers should only continue to improve

Since the start of 2021, until August, Russian airlines have carried 71.1 million passengers. This represents an increase of 62% over the same period in 2020. However, it’s also 17.6% short of pre-pandemic levels.

Nonetheless, numbers are trending in the right direction, and with somewhat recent developments in the market, that trend should continue.

At the end of August, we reported on how Russia had completely lifted travel restrictions on flights to the Dominican Republic, South Korea, and the Czech Republic– the first three countries for which Russia has fully lifted flight restrictions. Of the Russian carriers, Aeroflot should benefit the most, seeing as it operates service to both Prague and Seoul.

Also in late-August, Aeroflot, Royal Air, and Nordwind Airlines had filed permission with Rosaviatsiya to operate new routes to Mexico. At this time, Mexico does not have any pandemic-specific travel restrictions for incoming travelers. And, while certain travelers may need to apply for visas, citizens from Russia, Turkey and Ukraine are eligible to apply for an Electronic Authorization (electronic visa) for travel to Mexico. Once these new routes to Mexico are established, we should see more increases in passenger traffic.

What do you think of Russia’s aviation market recovery? Do you think this trend will continue? Let us know by leaving a comment.

from Simple Flying https://ift.tt/3tZ1myH
via IFTTT