Russian airlines carried 64 million people in 2011, a record number of passengers in the whole post-Soviet period. The growing trend was not stopped even by the fact that last year 37 airlines finished its operation.
According to Federal Air Transport Agency, last year Russian airlines carried about 12.5% more passengers than in 2010 and almost 28% more than in 2008. The largest carrier - "Aeroflot" - crossed the mark of 14 million passengers (more than 20 million if subsidiaries included) against 11.3 million people in 2010.
In December, the head of Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko, noted that over the past ten years, traffic volumes have tripled, reported Rbcdaily.ru. At the same time, 2011 was a record year in one more aspect – the number of airlines decreased by 37 to 151.
The success of the carriers was also shared by Russian airports. The title of the largest Russian airport is held for several years by Moscow's Domodedovo Airport. Last year it served 25.7 million passengers, a 15.5% increase over the previous year.
"In 2011, the airport welcomed ten new air carriers, and increased the number of flights operating," said the spokesman of the airport. The greatest growth was recorded in the following destinations: Antalya, Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Sofia, and Munich.
The other Moscow’s airport, Sheremetyevo, is still in second place, but the airport showed a slightly higher growth dynamics when it served 22.56 million in 2011. This amount represents a 16% increase. The growth was secured by significant increases contributed by two biggest carriers based here - "Aeroflot" and "Transaero".
The third place in terms of passenger traffic is taken for the first time since 2006 the St. Petersburg Pulkovo airport. The official representative of the airport operator, "The Northern Capital Gateway", reported that the business results of the year 2011 are not counted yet. However, recently, the company predicted the total figure of 9.6 million passengers per year.