GSGA estimates that 25m passengers will be carried in 2002 (327 words)

Published: 12/17/2001

According to Stanislav Ovcharenko of the GSGA, Russian air passenger transportation increased by 15.7% in the period January – November 2001 to 23.5 m passengers. Passenger numbers on international routes grew by 20.6% to 9.5 m, with domestic routes up by 12.6% to 14 m passengers. Overall seat load factors increased from 63.9% to 66.3%, with international routes up from 65.9% to 66.2%. Ovcharenko said that in 2002 the GSGA estimates that Russian airlines will carry more than 25m passengers. Although he does express some caution on international routes, given the current political situation, he is very confident on volumes in the domestic market suggesting that the Russian traveler has started to return to air travel. Ovcharenko believes that the improvements have come about as the result of a number of factors: • Russian economy is steadily improving and increasing people"s ability to buy tickets • GSGA"s efficient regulation of the market • Development of new routes • The development of a commercial infrastructure offering passengers ticketing packages, reducing price and complexity when flights are multi leg. • Development of hubs to connect intra regional and long haul flights • The use of more Russian modern aircraft, with a number of carriers expanding the use of Tu-204/Tu-214 in 2001 and further airlines likely to adopt the aircraft in the near future. On the latter point, Svetlana Belova, the spokeswoman from CMW"s representative office in Moscow, said that Tu-204 operated by CMW has experienced good demand, flying with a seat load factor of 100%. She further suggests that some foreigners (the ultimate arbiters of quality) can"t believe the Tu-204 is a Russian-made aircraft and some even choose to fly on it! Her rather effusive compliments are however, not reflected by her colleague Anatoly Sokolov, the Chief Engineer of CMW, who testified on the 24th September 2001 during the Duma"s aerospace and air transport hearings that CMW has problems with the Tu-204 relating to spare parts, costs and technical support.

Article ID: 2958