17 Mar 2010 15:29

Air passenger volume forecast to rise 14%-15% in 2010

MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) - Russian air passenger volume will increase 14%-15% in 2010 compared with 2009, Deputy Transportation Minister Valery Okulov told journalists.

"There is and will be growth compared with 2009, since the benchmark for comparison is so low," he said.

Okulov predicted that passenger volume in 2010 might rise 3%-4% compared with 2008, which would be "a pretty good result for the industry."

Passenger volume rose 11% to 50.1 million in 2008, but fell 9.4% to 45.1 million in 2009, according to data from Rosaviatsia.