Rapid route growth gives 57.4% growth in passenger numbers (320 words)

Published: 11/2/2001

Tyumenaviatrans (TAT) has reported a 57.4% rise in traffic in the first nine months of the year, carrying 763,607 passengers. The company carried 74,034 tonnes of cargo and mail, which is 47.3% more compared to 9mo2001. The increase in passenger numbers was, however, accompanied by a decline in seat load factor from 68.7% in January-September 2000 to 66.2% in January-September 2001, suggesting that the company's rapid increase in routes and frequencies has taken its impact in the faster growth of the company's available seat kilometres (ASK) over revenue seat kilometres. The decrease of the seat load factor was expected, according to Inessa Gousseva of TAT, given the company's aggressive growth that has increased the number of destinations from 64 to 85 in the period, due in part to the opening of international flights from Surgut Airport in July 2001. Gousseve says that, while the airport opening offered only one scheduled flight to Kiev, it has brought TAT considerable charter business, with travel agency agreements resulting in the airline carrying passengers to Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, UAE and Egypt from Surgut, in addition to Tyumen. The company also opened new routes to Nizhniy Novgorod, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg and Mineral Waters to carry oil workers under contract. According to Gousseva, the events of 11th September did not affect the company significantly. The airline's primarily domestic business seems to have weathered the shocking events and Gousseva considers this is unlikely to change in the future. The airline also increased frequencies on intraregional routes in the period, possibly reflecting its new 70% shareholder, the Khanty Mansiisk regional administration. The company's aircraft continue to improve utilisation, with aircraft and helicopters time in the air increased by 49.1% and 33.5% respectively over the same period in 2000. The increased helicopter use came from further UN contracts in 2001, in addition to helicopter support for Surgutneftegaz in a contract worth $30m.

Article ID: 2882