Page 132 - RusRPTMay21

9.1.3 Aviation sector news
More than 4.3mn passengers passed through Sheremetyevo International Airport in the first quarter of 2021, with the total for March reaching 1.674mn – making the airport the third-busiest hub in Europe for the quarter. A total of 39,746 takeoff and landing operations were performed in the first quarter of 2021, with 14,676 takeoff and landing operations taking place in March. From January through March, 911,000 passengers using Sheremetyevo traveled on international airlines, and 3.391mn on domestic carriers, including 378,000 international passengers and 1.296mn domestic passengers in March alone. The most popular international destinations in the first quarter of this year were: Istanbul, Dubai, Male, Antalya and Bishkek. The most popular domestic destinations were Sochi, St. Petersburg, Simferopol, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar.
On 9 April, the government discussed shutting down flights to Turkey because of the high rate of new cases there (55k/day vs. 9k/day in Russia). Forbes reports that, in the end, no decision was taken. Two options were i) cancel regular flights for a month or ii) introduce a two-week quarantine upon return. Before the pandemic, Turkey accounted for 25% of Russian international airline traffic, or 11% of the total. In 2mo21, it brought only 3% of the total. However, for Aeroflot the contribution is smaller, at 1-2%, as the Turkish market is dominated by charter airlines. While the risk of borders being shut still remains and such a decision might be made in the near future, we do
132 RUSSIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com