Russia’s Aeroflot Group, which comprises Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines, Pobeda Airlines and Aurora Airlines, carried a total of over 50 million passengers in 2017, up 15.4% year-on-year.

Flag carrier Aeroflot alone transported 32.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%.

The group’s share of the Russian air transport market grew from 42.3% in 2016 to 47.7%.

The revenue passenger kilometers grew 16.2% for the group and 11% for Aeroflot. Available seat kilometers rose by 14.2% for Aeroflot Group and by 10.3% for its leading airline.

Domestically, the number of passengers carried by the group grew 9.7% year-on-year to 27.58 million. Passengers carried on Aeroflot’s domestic routes were up 11.3% to 15.69 million.

The biggest increase saw passengers carried on the group’s combined international routes, with an expansion of 23.3 per cent year-on-year to 22.55 million.

In the same period, the number of passengers carried by Aeroflot on international routes increased by 15.3 per cent to 17.15 million. Growth in the international segment was driven by the combined effects of stable demand in the context of a strengthening ruble, increased flight frequencies and the launch of services to new international destinations, as well as the development of Rossiya’s partnerships with tour operators and the enlargement of Pobeda’s international route network.

The passenger load factors increased by 1.4 per cent year-on-year to 82.8 for the group as a whole and to 81.8 per cent for the main airline.

In 2017, the group’s overall aircraft fleet size increased by a total of 40 units to 325; Aeroflot’s own fleet took on 35 additional aircraft, bringing the total figure up to 224 airframes as of 31 December 2017.