IATA provides data in passenger kilometers, this is the number of passengers transported multiplied by the distance. The largest countries in terms of the share of air transportation were in the “minus” – China (-57%), India (-44.8%), the USA (-13.2%).
At the beginning of September, Transport Minister Vitaly Saveliev noted that Russian airlines will transport 100 million people in 2021 and air transportation within the country will grow by 17% compared to 2019. In August, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency, airlines transported 13.9 million passengers, in January-August – 71.2 million passengers in Russia and abroad.
The main reason for the growth of domestic transportation in Russia is the size of the country and the presence of territories where there is simply no alternative to air transport, says Fedor Borisov, an expert at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy of the HSE. Domestic transportation has great potential, it is realized during the period of restrictions on international destinations. But so far, many airlines on domestic lines are flying at a loss. Subsidies make it possible to compensate for losses.
With the opening of international destinations, demand will also recover due to domestic flights, says Oleg Panteleev, head of the Aviport portal. But this will only slow down the growth rate in domestic areas, he believes.
