29 Jul 2019 20:56

Russian airlines boost passenger services 20% in July - Neradko

MOSCOW. July 29 (Interfax) - Russian airlines boosted passenger services 20% in July 2019, Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) head Alexander Neradko told reporters on Monday.

"We are seeing an in increase of approximately 20% year-on-year in domestic flights in July 2019. So, we have an eye towards the resolution on boosting the number of domestic flights, bypassing Moscow, and this is proceeding in a rather active fashion," he said.

He did not provide further data on trends for flights solely between regions bypassing Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier called for developing inter-regional flights: according to the president's May 2019 decrees, by 2022, the share of flights without a transfer in Moscow should reach 50% of all flight (currently less than 25%). Prior to this, Viktor Vekselberg's Renova Group, which is developing the regional airport network, initiated such support.

According to data from the Russian Civil Aviation Research Institute, which is overseen by the Russian Transport Ministry, the volume of regular domestic services bypassing Moscow in 2019 will total 18.9 million passengers compared with 16.99 million passengers in 2018. By 2024, this indicator should grow to 31.7 million passengers, a share of 35%.