Fleets are growing but profits stay low

The 2012 performance results across the Russian air transport sector were largely defined by the state of the aircraft fleets and by the airlines’ financial situation. It transpires that, despite the carriers’ active efforts to acquire new equipment, their operating margins remain low.

The air traffic growth observed in Russia over the past several years has been down to active fleet renovation and expansion efforts. Oleg Stradomsky, director of the aviation certification center at the GosNII GA state research institute of civil aviation, estimates that 133 passenger aircraft were added to the country’s overall fleet last year, including 114 foreign-made and 15 newly built Russian airframes. In all, 540 foreign-built and 50 new domestic passenger airliners were added between 2008 and 2012; the figures for commercial cargo aircraft were 14 and eight, respectively. The rotary-wing fleet has been expanding as well. Of the 121 helicopters delivered in 2012, mainly in the light category, 105 were of foreign makes and two represented new Russian designs.

Stradomsky says the active Russian commercial fleet comprised 2,745 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft as of January 2013, including 656 mainline and 294 regional passenger aircraft, 137 freighters, and 1,111 helicopters. The share of foreign-built passenger airframes stood at 63%.