The Cabinet of Ministers proposed selling alcohol at airports during flights within Russia

The government has submitted a bill to the State Duma that temporarily allows the sale of alcohol to passengers on domestic flights in duty-free shops located at airports. Revenue may increase due to such changes by 8.9 billion rubles, the government predicts.

Document offered to amend the Federal Law “On state regulation of the production and turnover of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products and on limiting the consumption (drinking) of alcoholic products.”

As stated in the explanatory note to the document, the project was developed as a measure to support the owners of duty-free shops and operators of international airports in Russia, who suffered “serious losses” due to a drop in passenger traffic during the coronavirus pandemic.

The situation, as noted, was aggravated by the “geopolitical situation” and the introduction of sanctions against Russia. The government in the note refers to data from the Russian Register of duty free owners, according to which from 2019 to March 2023 their number decreased by 20%. And the volume of retail sales of alcohol in the MBT from 2019 to 2022 inclusive decreased by 64%.

“Under the conditions of sanctions, MBT owners cannot return goods to their main suppliers due to the closure of transport and logistics corridors by European states. In addition, airport rents on average account for 30% of the duty-free industry’s revenue,” the explanatory note says.

The government proposes to allow shops at airports to sell alcohol until June 30, 2026. According to the bill, it will be possible to sell alcohol in retail outlets located in “departure lounges for domestic air transportation of passengers and baggage, in baggage claim halls for arrivals of domestic air transportation of passengers and baggage.” located in the transport security zones of international airports of the Russian Federation.”

According to the forecast of the Cabinet of Ministers, if the provisions of the bill are implemented, the average check per passenger on domestic airlines will increase by 33%, which will be about 115 rubles. If passenger traffic within Russia remains at the 2022 level, additional industry revenue will be about 8.95 billion rubles.