Russia's 323 airlines carried 21.46 million passengers last year, says the Federal Service of Air Transport - a 3.9% drop compared with the previous year, and the tenth successive fall since 1990's high of 90.7 million passengers (for Russia alone).
Passenger load factors rose by an average 3.5 points, to 62.4%, however, suggesting that airlines have reduced frequencies to cater for a smaller market. Freight carried rose by 5%, to 468,000t, with load factors up 4.3 points, to 56%.
Provisional financial results suggest that state-controlled sectors of Russia's civil industry - including airlines, air traffic control, air navigation and airports - made a cashflow surplus of 3,318 roubles ($120 million).
Aeroflot was the most profitable airline, making 980 million roubles, and Moscow Sheremetyevo the most profitable airport, netting almost 900 million roubles.
Source: Flight International
