RUSSIA: Traffic Through Moscow Airports Of Vnukovo, Domodedovo And Sheremetyevo Drops In August

Domodedovo International Airport
Passenger traffic through the three airports of Moscow namely Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo continued to climb in August compared to the same month in 2016, albeit at a slower rate than in July 2017.

Vnukovo saw its traffic increase by 22.9% to 2.071 million passengers- against 31.5% in July; Domodedovo, by 5% to over exceeding 3.5 million (5.8% in July); Sheremetyevo, by 19.6% to 4.141 million (22.9% in July).

At Vnukovo, international traffic continued to grow faster than domestic passenger numbers; it increased by 77.3% in August to 875,000 passengers.

The most popular destinations includes Antalya, Larnaca, Istanbul, Barcelona, Pathos, Dushanbe, Baku, and Heraklion. Domestic traffic grew by just 0.4% to 1.196 million passengers.

The most popular destinations were Sochi, Simferopol, Anapa, Mineralnye Vody, St. Petersburg, Makhachkala, Krasnodar, Surgut, and Rostov-on-Don.

A similar trend was observed at Domodedovo, where international traffic grew 15% year-on-year, exceeding 1.6 million passengers.

The most popular destinations were Antalya, Tivat, and Barcelona. Some 1.9 million passengers traveled on domestic routes, 2% down from the same month last year.

The fastest growing routes within Russia were to Krasnodar, Kaliningrad, Ufa, Makhachkala, and Sabetta.

At Sheremetyevo, the trend got reversed: international traffic grew at a slower rate than domestic in August.

The airport served 4.141 million passengers traveling abroad, up 18.3% year-on-year.

Domestic traffic, although smaller in absolute figures at 1.798 million, grew faster at 21.3%.

The most popular destinations out of Sheremetyevo in the past eight months were Paris, Tel Aviv, Prague, Beijing, Shanghai, St. Petersburg, Simferopol, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, and Krasnodar.



Tourism Observer

RUSSIA: AZUR Air To Fly To Goa,From Eight Russian Cities

Russian airline company “AZUR Air” has planned an ambitious program of flights to Goa, the popular Indian resort, from eight Russian cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa.

Airline “AZUR Air” in the winter season has significantly expanded its destination network by adding a number of departures from the Russian regions to the Indian resort. So, the flights to the International Airport Dabolim (Goa) from Ufa, Samara, Rostov-on-Don and Nizhny Novgorod will be absolutely new directions in the schedule of flights.

Today, October 18, the flight program begins from Ekaterinburg to Goa, since October 20 - from Ufa, since October 21 - from Kazan, October 24 - from Rostov-on-Don, October 25 – from Samara, October 27 - from Nizhny Novgorod and St Petersburg. The average flight frequency on each of these directions – is every ten days. Flights will be performed by Boeing 757-200 airplanes with a capacity of 238 passenger seats.

In addition, on October 15 a new winter program of flights was launched from Moscow Domodedovo airport to Dabolim International Airport. The flights will be implemented 3 times a week. The entire program of flights to the Indian resort Goa will be performed till the end of March within the framework of the winter schedule.

Michael Kritskii, CEO of “AZUR Air” said: “in the winter season the company significantly expands its route network. A priority for us is - to open new routes not only from Moscow but from regional airports also. Thus, we provide to our passengers from regions the opportunity to optimally plan their holiday, to depart from the nearest airports to them and not waste time in connecting flights".

It is noted, that in the last autumn-winter season the airline passenger traffic of “AZUR Air” to the Indian resort amounted 73.5 thousand people.

The airline company “AZUR Air” is a young Russian brand on the air passenger transportation market and one of the major charter airlines companies in the country. The first flight under this brand was in December 2014. “AZUR Air” performs flights on international routes, ensuring the needs of the largest Russian tour operators. Today, in the rating of the Russian airlines companies the “AZUR Air” is the eighth best by number of passengers and the fifth - by passenger traffic. The aircraft fleet consists of fifteen aircraft, including nine Boeing 757-200 and six Boeing 767-300. “AZUR Air” flies from thirty Russian cities on twenty-nine international tourist routs.

TURKEY: Turkey-Russia Flights Drop Almost 50 Percent After Jet Crisis

Scheduled flights between Russia and Turkey by the two countries’ flag carriers have dropped almost 50 percent along with the number of passengers after the downing of Russian jet by Turkey on Nov. 24, 2015, a tourism official has said.

SKY Tourism Company official Faruk Yılmaz said Turkish Airlines’ daily flights to Moscow dropped from four to three flights a week, while Russian carrier Aeroflot Airlines decreased its daily flights from four to two.

“There has been a great decrease in occupancy rates in flights after the Nov. 24 2015 downing of a Russian jet, almost 50 percent in the number of passengers and flights,” Yılmaz noted.

He also said Aeroflot dropped its number of daily Moscow-Antalya flights to one.

In addition, Yılmaz said Turkish Airlines aimed to boost its flights during the summer season, increasing the number of Moscow-Istanbul flights from 21 to 28 and organizing two flights between Antalya and Moscow.

Turkish Airlines holds 21 flights a week to Moscow from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport while Aeroflot organizes 14.

Low cost carrier Pegasus Airlines also organizes seven flights a week from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport.

Apart from Moscow, Turkish Airlines flies to many Russian destinations including Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Rostov, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk and Astrakhan.

Pegasus also flies to Krasnodar and Yekaterinburg.