PAUL DUFFY / MOSCOW
Passenger traffic continued to grow, but 2001 was marred by four fatal crashes
The Russian airline industry continued to show signs of recovery last year, achieving growth in traffic and profits, but at the expense of airline safety.
Passenger traffic growth that began in late 2000 developed into a 14.5% increase for 2001, while revenues climbed 8.6% to 101.64 billion roubles ($3.4 billion). At the same time, however, the industry suffered its worst safety performance for four years, says Russia's state service of civil aviation (GSGA).
Overall passenger numbers reached 25 million compared to 21.8 million in 2000, with international traffic seeing an 18.4% rise and domestic traffic up 17.3%.
The top four carriers - Aeroflot, Sibir Airlines, Pulkovo Aviation and Tyumenaviatrans - carried half of the passenger traffic, with Aeroflot accounting for 31.4% of the total, says the GSGA. Revenue passenger kilometres reached 60.1 billion, up 12.6% the previous last year.
The cargo sector also enjoyed growth, with 612,200t of cargo carried, up 12% on 2000's 546,600t.
Provisional financial results indicate that Russian airline revenues grew 8.6% to 101.64 billion roubles ($3.4 billion), with international operations generally profitable and domestic operations losing money. Provisional figures indicate a 8.34 billion rouble profit compared to last year's 8.01 billion roubles.
The number of licensed operators continued to fall. Of 628 air operators' certificates (AOC) issued since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, just 267 remain, with seven new AOCs issued and 36 withdrawn in 2001, says the GSGA. The transport ministry hopes to cut the number of operators further by raising standards and encouraging consolidation of the industry.
While traffic and results for Russian carriers were strong in 2001, it was not a good year for safety. After four years without a passenger fatality on large aircraft, there were four fatal accidents involving Russian airlines during the year, including 145 deaths in a crashed Vladivostok Avia Tupolev Tu-154M.
Last October's Sibir Tu-154 crash is not included in the fatalities as the aircraft was shot down and is attributed to "unlawful interference". Safety levels fell below the International Civil Aviation Organisation average for the year, with 8.57 passenger deaths for every one million who travelled. The GSGA says that four-fifths of the accidents were due to human error.
The size of the Russian fleet, including helicopters, has fallen from 6,540 a year ago to 6,014.
GSGA says the major problem ahead is restrictions on Russian aircraft in the rest of Europe due to lack of compliance with new requirements. Upgrades required over the last few years have included reduced vertical separation minima modifications and traffic alert and collision avoidance systems.
The next major hurdle is the ICAO Chapter 3 noise requirement which comes into effect in April. Over 1,600 aircraft on the Russian register are not compliant and only 241 could be made compliant through modifications.
Source: Flight International
