OAG Travel News

Last week I examined the air service of Canada, the world’s second-largest country in terms of land mass.  This week I turn to the world’s largest country – Russia.  Covering over 6.5 million square miles (17 million square kilometers), Russia accounts for over 12 percent of the world’s total land area, but less than two percent of the world’s total scheduled commercial service flights.

Russia’s Busiest Airports
There are 106 airports in Russia that enjoy scheduled commercial air service – less than half the number in Canada.  Moscow’s three airports account for 44 percent of the Russia’s total flights.  Following are details about Russia’s largest airports.

Domodedovo International Airport (DME) – Moscow
Domodedovo is the busiest airport in Russia, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the country’s total air service. 

Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) – Moscow
Shermetyevo enjoys more flights to international destinations than any other airport in Russia.

Vnukovo International Airport (VKO) – Moscow
Although Vnukovo ranks as Moscow’s smallest airport as measured by flights, it enjoys more domestic flights than Sheremetyevo.

Pulkovo Airport (LED) – St. Petersburg
Pulkovo is the busiest airport outside of Moscow and is served by 56 airlines.

Khrabrovo Airport (KGD) – Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is geographically separated from Russia – it is physically located between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.  Kaliningrad-based KD Avia is the largest airline serving Khrabrovo Airport and provides nearly two-thirds of the total flights.

Sochi International Airport (AER) – Sochi
Sochi will welcome the 2014 Winter Olympics.  Currently, 95 percent of Sochi’s air service is to domestic destinations within Russia; the airport’s international service consists of flights to Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Israel.  Certainly more services will be added to Sochi’s portfolio leading up to the Olympics.

Top Airlines
A total of 118 airlines provide air service to, from and within Russia – this is more than the number of commercial service airports in the country.  Interestingly, not one airline has more than six percent of total market share (as measured by flights).  Western Siberia-based UTair Aviation ranks as the largest airline in Russia with just over 5.5 percent of total flights; Aeroflot follows closely behind with 5.0 percent of total flights, and S7 Airlines rounds out the top three with 4.5 percent of total flights.  Of the 118 airlines that serve Russia, 110 offer international service and only 33 offer domestic service.  Aeroflot ranks as the largest international service provider while UTair is the largest domestic service provider.  Germany-based Lufthansa is the largest foreign-flag airline operating service to Russia.

Aircraft
There are numerous Russian aircraft manufacturers, including Antonov, Ilyushin, Tupolev and Yakolev.  Scheduled commercial service flights on aircraft manufactured in Russia account for only seven percent of the country’s international flights, but for fully half of all domestic flights.

Domestic vs. International Services
Over 70 percent of Russia’s air service is domestic – flights between two cities in Russia.  In terms of international air service, 36 of Russia’s 106 commercial service airports offer nonstop service to international destinations; not surprisingly, Moscow’s three airports account for 70 percent of the country’s international flights.  Ten countries account for over half of Russia’s total international flights; these countries include Germany, the Ukraine, Turkey, Armenia, France, Uzbekistan, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Italy, respectively.

Top City Pairs
Russia’s top domestic city pair as ranked by number of flights is Moscow/Sheremetyevo (SVO) – St. Petersburg (LED) with 34 total daily flights.  In fact, Russia’s top 3 domestic city pairs are Moscow – St. Petersburg (from Moscow’s three airports), and the top 10 domestic city pairs include at least one airport in Moscow.  The largest non-Moscow city pair is St. Petersburg (LED) – Kaliningrad (KGD) with 10 daily flights.  In terms of international city pairs, service from the European capitals of Paris, London, Frankfurt, Prague, Kiev and Istanbul to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports rank highest.

I hope you enjoyed this brief glimpse of Russia’s air service network!

Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes; data is for total scheduled commercial flights filed in the OAG for June 2009 only, unless otherwise noted.

original article by Laura Jackson