Business travel agency Aeroclub reported that demand for airline tickets in the first quarter of 2019 did not increase compared to the same period last year. According to the agency, the minimal growth in sales (2%) was observed only on domestic routes, while international sales fell by 12%, reports Travel.ru's own correspondent.
Minsk (+39%), which was fifth last year, unexpectedly became the leader on international routes. Paris (+4%), last year's leader, is second most popular, while Munich climbed one spot to third. Almaty, which was second last year, fell to seventh (possibly due to a 25% increase in ticket prices), and London fell from third place to just outside the top ten (possibly partly due to the cooling in political relations, which has impacted business ties). Frankfurt took fourth place (ticket prices to Germany dropped significantly), and the remaining spots in the top ten are occupied by Milan, Amsterdam, Almaty, Yerevan, Vienna, and Istanbul.
Domestic flights overall saw a significant price increase, averaging around 10%. In particular, flights to Moscow, which account for 19% of total tickets purchased, increased by 11%. Demand for this route stagnated, although the capital, of course, remained the leader in the rankings.
St. Petersburg once again took second place in terms of demand, increasing its popularity by 20%, in part due to a 6% price drop. Yekaterinburg climbed to third place (+10%, with a 14% increase), and Samara took fourth (+17%, with a 7% increase). The remaining spots in the top ten were occupied by Krasnodar (+11%), Novosibirsk (0%), Sochi (-24%), Tyumen (0%), Krasnoyarsk (+9), and Rostov-on-Don. The latter was the only newcomer to the top ten, displacing Kazan.
Aeroflot accounted for 401,000,000 domestic tickets and 201,000,000 international tickets. Its main competitors on domestic routes were Siberia Airlines (S7 Airlines) and Utair, while Pobeda accounted for 21,000,000 bookings. On international routes, Siberia Airlines and Lufthansa took second and third place. Business class tickets accounted for only 41,000,000 domestic tickets, while international ones accounted for 91,000,000 (plus 11,000,000 first class tickets).
Source: travel.ru