Summing up the results of 2017, the Federal Air Transport Agency has published brief statistics on the work of civil aviation in the Russian Federation. The whole picture for the participants Russian airlines rating 2018 looks good. The air transportation market continues to evolve, and almost all of the reliable Russian airlines included in the list have shown an average increase in the number of passengers and kilometers flown by 15%. At the same time, the weight of the top five airlines continues to grow. If in 2017 they occupied 67.4% of the total volume, then in 2018 it was already 85%.
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10. North Wind
Opens the rating of the largest airlines in Russia Nordwind Airlines, also known as "North Wind". Over the past year, the number of passengers amounted to 3.5 million and compared to 2016 increased by 95%. The passenger turnover indicator also showed growth, having increased by 44%.
9. VIM-Avia
One of the largest charter carriers in Russia, which carried more than 2.2 million passengers in 2017, was summoned to the carpet by the Federal Air Transport Agency in the summer of 2016 due to constant long delays of flights up to several tens of hours. The carrier promised to take action. In case of inability to establish regular flights at the exact time, the company is threatened with restrictions on transportation.
8. Azur Air
Azur Air was a subsidiary of UTair, but two years ago set off on an independent voyage. In 2017, the number of passengers of the company amounted to 3.6 million people, almost 2/3 more compared to 2016.
7. Globe
Globus is a member of the S7 Group, being a subsidiary of the Siberian aviation giant, which took the second place in the ranking of the best airlines. 2017 turned out to be favorable for the company - the number of passengers increased by 20.2%, amounting to 4.1 million people.
6. Victory
A subsidiary of Aeroflot, which took over from Dobrolet, which died as a result of the sanctions of the UES, is positioned as a budget company. Although the first tickets for flights of the new airline were sold only two years ago, it confidently entered the top 10 airlines in Russia.
The number of passengers in 2017 amounted to 4.3 million people, an increase of 5% compared to 2016. Despite his youth, the flights of "Pobeda" have already become overgrown with scandals. User dissatisfaction is caused by the policy of hiding the real price for the flight, demands to pay for the opportunity to sit with families, flight delays and cases when tickets for a flight are sold more than the number of seats.
5. Ural Airlines
The fifth place in the rating of Russian airlines in 2018 is taken by Ural Airlines, which carried 7.5 million people in 2017, showing an increase of 25%. In the meantime, the company is demanding from the Federal Air Transport Agency to pay for the transportation of veterans of the Great Patriotic War to celebrate the anniversary of the Victory in 2015. The Federal Air Transport Agency rejected the application for payment, finding fault with the fact that it lacks the words "including VAT" and other points of the same degree of importance.
4. UTair
The owner of the world's largest operating helicopter fleet appears to have recovered from the crisis of late 2014. In 2017, the number of passengers carried by this company amounted to 6.8 million, an increase of 9.1% compared to 2016.
3. Russia
The second subsidiary of the giant Aeroflot, which made it into the top 10 of the Russian airlines in 2018, carried more than 10.6 million people last year, demonstrating an impressive 41.5% passenger growth - the highest among the participating airlines. At the same time, the passenger turnover indicator increased by 55.3%.
2. Siberia
In second place in the rating of the largest airlines in Russia is Siberia, aka S7 Airlines, which carries out flights to 83 directions both in Russia and abroad. Most of the latter, however, are served by partner airlines. A total of 9.3 million passengers were transported in 2017.
1. Aeroflot
Russians continue to fly with Aeroflot planes. In 2017, the company transported more than 30.5 million people, more than 3 times ahead of the second-ranked Siberia in this indicator. It is not surprising, since Aeroflot is the largest and oldest Russian airline, which has been carrying passengers since 1923. Although the company was included in the black sanctions list of Ukraine, this does not prevent an increase in the number of traffic.
According to such criteria as the number of passengers and passenger turnover, the company recorded an increase of 12% over the past year. By the way, Aeroflot can also be called one of the safest airlines in Russia in 2018 - not a single major plane crash occurred on its lines, counting, of course, subsidiaries and accidents caused by the actions of third parties. In the airline safety rating published in 2017 by the audit company JACDEC, Aeroflot is in 37th place.
World Airlines Safety Rating 2017 (JACDEC)
| Rank | Airline | Country | Carrier code | Safety Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cathay pacific airways | China, Hong-Kong | CX, CPA | 0,005 |
| 2 | Air New Zealand | New Zealand | NZ, ANZ | 0,007 |
| 3 | Hainan Airlines | China | HU, CHH | 0,009 |
| 4 | Qatar Airways | Qatar | QR, QTR | 0,009 |
| 5 | K L M | Netherlands | KL, KLM | 0,011 |
| 6 | EVA Air | Taiwan | BR, EVA | 0,012 |
| 7 | Emirates | United Arab Emirates | EK, UAE | 0,013 |
| 8 | Etihad airways | United Arab Emirates | EY, ETD | 0,014 |
| 9 | QANTAS | Australia | QF, QFA | 0,015 |
| 10 | Japan airlines | Japan | JL, JAL | 0,015 |
| 11 | All Nippon Airways | Japan | NH, ANA | 0,016 |
| 12 | Lufthansa | Germany | LH, DLH | 0,016 |
| 13 | TAP Portugal | Portugal | TP, TAP | 0,017 |
| 14 | Virgin atlantic airways | United Kingdom | VS, VIR | 0,017 |
| 15 | Delta Air Lines | USA | DL, DAL | 0,018 |
| 16 | Air Canada | Canada | AC, ACA | 0,02 |
| 17 | jetBlue Airways | USA | B6, JBU | 0,02 |
| 18 | Virgin australia | Australia | VA, VOZ | 0,02 |
| 19 | British airways | United Kingdom | BA, BAW | 0,023 |
| 20 | Air Berlin | Germany | AB, BER | 0,023 |
| 21 | WestJet Airlines | Canada | WS, WJA | 0,023 |
| 22 | Sichuan Airlines | China | 3U, CSC | 0,028 |
| 23 | Norwegian Air Shuttle | Norway | DY, NAX | 0,032 |
| 24 | Shenzhen Airlines | China | ZH, CSZ | 0,032 |
| 25 | Iberia | Spain | IB, IBE | 0,034 |
| 26 | Jetstar airways | Australia | JQ, JST | 0,036 |
| 27 | Southwest Airlines | USA | WN, SWA | 0,037 |
| 28 | EasyJet | United Kingdom | U2, EZY | 0,037 |
| 29 | AirAsia | Malaysia | AK, AXM | 0,043 |
| 30 | Thomson airways | United Kingdom | BY, TOM | 0,047 |
| 31 | United Airlines | USA | UA, UAL | 0,051 |
| 32 | Singapore Airlines | Singapore | SQ, SIA | 0,051 |
| 33 | China Eastern Airlines | China | MU, CES | 0,061 |
| 34 | Ryanair | Ireland | FR, RYR | 0,064 |
| 35 | Swiss | Switzerland | LX, SWR | 0,064 |
| 36 | LATAM Chile | Chile | LA, LAN | 0,095 |
| 37 | Aeroflot | Russia | SU, AFL | 0,101 |
| 38 | Jet airways | India | 9W, JAI | 0,109 |
| 39 | Alitalia | Italy | AZ, AZA | 0,113 |
| 40 | Air India | India | AI, AIC | 0,115 |
| 58 | Garuda Indonesia | Indonesia | GA, GIA | 0,77 |
| 59 | Avianca Colombia | Colombia | AV, AVA | 0,914 |
| 60 | China Airlines | Taiwan | CI, CAL | 0,977 |
And VIM-Avia?
It is not clear how Uteyr ended up in 4th place, in all respects it should be at least in the second five. Uteyr has already lost its advantages. The airplanes are old, decrepit during takeoff and landing, creak and groan, and they will crumble into bolts and nuts in flight. The distance between the seats on planes is such that you almost have to put your feet next to you. Food, snacks, juices during flights have long been abandoned, maximum water, everything else for a fee. Delays of flights with passengers sitting on airplanes (almost three to four hours) are not uncommon, which entails passengers being late for connecting flights at other airports.
Why is Aeroflot better?