It could be worse

The difficult political and economic situation in Russia is inevitably affecting the country’s bizav market. Like with regular passenger air services, this segment has seen the greatest slump in the demand for international flights.

According to the German consultancy Wingх Advance, the number of bizav flights between Russia and Europe dropped by 20.6% year-on-year in April 2015. However, the company’s analysts believe that the Russian bizav market has passed the lowest point already. Traffic declined by 22% in January, by 34% in February, and by 21.9% in March.

Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, the largest bizav center in Russia, ranked Europe’s sixth for bizav movements in April, handling 3,217 flights (16.4% down year-onyear). In January-April, a total of 5,391 international bizav flights were performed from Russia, or 24.6% down year-onyear. Russia ranked 11th among the European countries for this parameter.

The Russian domestic bizav market, on the contrary, has been growing by 5-7% year-on-year every month since the beginning of the year, according to the charter provider Air Charter Service. General Manager for Russia and the CIS Azat Mulgimov explains this trend by intensified business activity across the country.