RuAviation

In 2022, 11 airports in the south of the country were closed and airlines had to adjust their routes to ensure the safety of passenger air travel due to a special military operation. Since 1 June 2024, one of the previously closed airports has resumed receiving and dispatching aircraft and passenger services, the airport in the capital of Kalmykia, Elista. In an interview with NTV TV channel at SPIEF-2024, Dmitry Yadrov, head of Rosaviatsia, described how sanctions and bans have affected the operations of Russian airlines.

“What happened in general to the economy of airlines? The leverage that the state has provided in terms of state support measures, which is about 180 billion in ’22, 69 billion in ’23 and this year 25 billion, has allowed our airlines to function sustainably. Rosaviatsia monitors the economic condition of airlines in a number of areas on a quarterly basis. The top 15 carriers are currently in the absolute trend,” the head of Rosaviatsia said.

According to him, the agency does not see any deterioration, the geography of flights is growing, the route network is developing. At the same time, foreign air carriers suffer serious losses.

“The Russian Federation in relation to those countries that have imposed restrictions on the flights of our airlines has also imposed appropriate restrictions. The ban affected 53 countries. That is, they used to fly through us, but now they don’t. Our country is very large, and actually travelling over our territory leads to crazy losses for foreign carriers. And, of course, there, based on the economy, which is formed in European countries, such support measures were not provided, and some airlines today are already in a crisis situation,” Dmitry Yadrov said.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, made in March 2022, the additional costs of carriers from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Finland, France, Switzerland and Sweden in the conditions of restrictions on the use of airspace of the Russian Federation are more than $37.5 million weekly. As a consequence, ticket and cargo prices are rising, which inevitably falls on passengers and shippers.

As a result of the forced retaliatory measure imposed on foreign carriers, the airlines of the People’s Republic of China and the Gulf States have gained the greatest competitive advantage. For example, the range of a flight from London to Tokyo via Russia along the Trans-Siberian route – the shortest air route between Europe and South-East Asia – is 9,500 kilometres, and using an alternative route – almost 12,000 kilometres.

The most affected airline is Finnair. The carrier built its business on low-cost connecting flights via its air hub in Helsinki when flying along the Trans-Siberian route to Southeast Asia, Japan, China and Korea.

Due to the bypass of Russian airspace, a flight to Tokyo Narita Airport from Helsinki takes three to four hours longer than it did before March 2022. The longer route means higher fuel costs. According to the airline’s report, fuel costs have doubled in the first six months of 2022, with fuel purchases now accounting for 55 per cent of Finnair’s costs, up from 30 per cent in December 2021. The company’s operating loss for the first half of 2022 was a record €133m, of which up to €51m is attributable to the sharply increased price of fuel, leaving the carrier completely unable to compete with Chinese airlines flying to Europe as usual through Russian airspace.