Popular traffic

The Russian bizav sector continues to suffer from negative economic factors. The German consultancy WINGX Advance reports that traffic between Russia and the EU dropped 23% in the first six months of 2015. The EU remains the most popular destination for Russia’s bizav passengers: Emperor Aviation, one of the country’s leading business aviation operators, reports that at least 70% of its flights are to European countries. Moscow continues to lead the country in the number of bizav departures to domestic and EU destinations. WINGX Advance says Nice in July remained the most popular European city for bizav passengers flying from and to Moscow, with 90 flights performed along the route during that month. These reports are supported by Emperor Aviation’s statistics: the operator says the most popular destinations from Moscow this summer were Nice (24%), Geneva (15%), Vienna (15%), Paris (12%), and London (10%). Europe may remain particularly popular with Russian bizav passengers, but the share of domestic flights has also been growing in the past few years, stimulated by the development of the country’s mining, industrial, and agricultural centers and also by the holding of a number of major international events. The most frequent bizav flights (not counting Moscow) have been operated to St. Petersburg, Tyumen, Krasnodar, Sochi, Nizhnekamsk, and Belgorod. Russian bizav charter broker ArcosJet says flights are also frequent to such mining cities as Yekaterinburg. Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, there was a period of frequent bizav operations to Simferopol, and that city remains among the popular domestic destinations. Market players concur that the current import substitution drive may further stimulate the domestic bizav market as business is moving into regions. Given the fact that regular air services are virtually non-existent in some parts of Russia, business aviation may prove the most efficient mode of transportation there.