Russian airlines’ passenger traffic halved over the course of last year, official figures from the federal air transport regulator show.
Rosaviatsia states that overall traffic was down by 52% with passenger numbers down 46% to 69.2 million.
But the fall was not indiscriminate across the Russian carriers.
Aeroflot Group’s budget airline Pobeda recorded a fall of just 12%, transporting 9.1 million passengers, reflecting the resilience of domestic operations.
Pobeda’s numbers were down by only 4% in December, even as other Russian carriers continued to struggle.
The full-year figures for Aeroflot itself and its subsidiary Rossiya – a decline of 61% and 51% respectively, according to preliminary Rosaviatsia data – show the crisis is still dragging on international travel.
Russia’s other primary carriers, Ural Airlines and S7 Airlines, recorded falls of 41% and 31% in passenger numbers for 2020.
