RBC: air cargo transportation in Russia fell to the level of 2001

Russian airlines transported 599,050 tons of cargo in 2022, which is almost 60% less than in 2021. Cargo traffic has reached its lowest level since 2001, when 614,000 tons were transported, writes RBC with reference to the data of the Federal Air Transport Agency.

According to the publication, the total volume of cargo transportation in Russia over the past year decreased by only 1.2% - to 7.95 billion tons, while rail deliveries decreased by 3.7% - to 1.24 billion tons, and road transport - increased by 0.3%, reaching 5.51 billion tons.

The decline was due to sanctions: if in January-February last year, air cargo transportation in the Russian Federation grew, then in March, after the start of the special operation, the cargo flow decreased by 3.6 times. The share of international traffic accounted for 77% of the cargo traffic of Russian airlines, draws the attention of RBC. Due to the risk of aircraft arrests and the closure of Western markets, the industry leader AirBridgeCargo, which carried 42% of all air cargo in early 2022, SkyGates and Atran, still did not resume flights.

Against the backdrop of problems faced by Russian carriers, the government allocated 2.9 billion rubles last year. Four companies were able to benefit from the program for reimbursement of operating expenses to airlines carrying cargo. Under a similar program for passenger airlines for 100 billion rubles. 32 carriers received support, the newspaper recalls.

As Igor Smirnov, senior director for corporate ratings at Expert RA, noted, it is impossible to replace the lost foreign market with domestic volumes, so the prospects for the industry's recovery directly depend on the normalization of the geopolitical situation. According to Mikhail Burmistrov, General Director of INFOLine-Analytics, a full recovery of the market can only be expected closer to 2030.

How wrote Earlier, Vedomosti, Russian airlines carried a total of 95.1 million passengers in 2022. The final passenger traffic in 2022 was 16 million people (14.3%) less than a year earlier, and 5 million below the bar set in March 2022 by Russian President Vladimir Putin. As of December 2022, there were 7.1 million passengers carried, which is 1.1 million people (13%) less than in December of the year before last.

The passenger turnover of domestic carriers over the past year amounted to 227.7 billion passenger-kilometers, which is 6.4% lower than in 2021. The percentage of seat occupancy, on the contrary, increased, amounting to 84% (against 81.5% in 2021) . The indicator of commercial loading of flights also increased. Last year, it was 70.6% against 65.4% in 2021.