Русский
The number of passengers for Russian airlines is expected to reach about 98.1 million over 2024, according to Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) head Dmitry Yadrov. This ranks Russia as the world’s third largest passenger aviation market, behind the United States and China, and just ahead of India.
Yadrov said that “For now, we are approaching the figure of 98.1 million. There will be a clearer understanding in August-September what will be the final figure of passenger traffic for Russian civil aviation by the end of 2024. Passenger transportation rose 8% to 40.5 million over the first five months of this year.”
Ireland is the highest European carrier with 78 million passengers, followed by Spain with 43 million, Germany with 33 million, and France 32 million per annum. Data is from the World Bank.
The forecast for Russian passenger traffic depends on what S7 Airlines decides to do with its fleet of 31 Airbus A320neo aircraft, which have Pratt & Whitney engines. Neither Airbus nor Pratt & Whitney are servicing these under sanctions imposed on Russia. This may reduce the number of operational flights as Russia looks to replace them with Sukhoi Superjets, powered by PowerJet SaM146 engines, however the latter is also restricted in part as the French manufacturing partner has also pulled out of maintenance and development contracts.
All Russian airlines will carry 98.1 million people this year, including 77.3 million domestically and 20.8 million internationally, under a comprehensive program for developing Russia’s aviation industry. Bottlenecks however still exist in replacing Western manufactured aircraft and engines, which may continue into 2026.
