Regional air transport in Russia to grow by at least 6% in 2014 - Transport Ministry
YEKATERINBURG. June 24 (Interfax) - Air transport in Russia will grow by at least 6% in 2014, the head of the Russian Transport Ministry's Civil Aviation Strategy Department, Andrei Ivanov, said at a conference in Yekaterinburg on Tuesday.
"In 2013, total carriage grew 14% to nearly 85 million passengers. Some 8.5 million passengers were transported on regional routes, including Moscow. In addition, the growth rate of the air transport segment beginning in 2000 has totaled no more than 3%-4% per year, [and] in 2013 it grew to 15%. We are still expecting this growth to be no less than 6% in 2014," he said.
Ivanov said this increase was aided by previously approved development programs for regional transport.
"In 2013 five subsidy programs were carried out that had an overall budget of 7.5 billion rubles, which allowed for 7.14 million passengers to be transported. The goal for 2014 includes 14.3 billion rubles, of which 3.58 billion rubles will go exclusively towards developing regional transport. In 2013, this figure was 2.65 billion rubles," Ivanov added.
The conference, "Air Transport Infrastructure: Development of Regional Aviation," will take place in Yekaterinburg on June 24-25.