While acknowledging that international traffic is right back on track at leading Russian airports, industry analysts at CiR Business Lounge are also pointing to ‘double-digit growth’ at Moscow’s three major facilities – and the destinations they serve.

 

Remarkably, the company says its ‘exclusive analysis’ shows ‘all but two’ of the top 20 Russian traveller destination countries have benefited from double-digit growth in the seven months to July 2017.

 

TOP 5  DESTINATIONS ACCOUNT FOR 33% OF RUSSIANS

CiR adds that The Ukraine (-3%) – still the biggest market with circa 700,000 passengers – and 13th-placed Kyrgyzstan (-1%) were the exceptions.

 

The analysts add that nearly one third of all Russian international outbound traffic was accounted for by the top five markets, with Germany, China, Turkey and Italy reporting respective growth rates of +23%, +32%, +93% and +32% in the first seven months of 2017.

 

 

RUSSIAN TRAVELLERS SPREAD WINGS FURTHER

CiR adds that ‘in terms of absolute growth’, some markets outside the top 20 were also very prominent, with Iran up by +137% and demand to India increasing by +49%.

 

Commenting on these findings, Garry Stasiulevicuis, Founder and President of CiR said: “Overall, some 7.1m travellers departed Russia in the year to July. That is a +22% average increase, which is very good news for the duty free channel.

 

“This is particularly so for markets like Turkey, Germany, Italy and Spain, which had suffered when Russians cut their travel and spending following the rouble’s devaluation and the Russian economy’s slide into recession.

 

“Turkey’s return to growth has been helped enormously by the strengthening of political relations between Russia and Turkey after a period of antagonism.”

 

In the year-to-date to July 2017, CiR says international passenger numbers rose +19% and delivered an additional 6.2m international passengers.

 

The two main Moscow hubs of Sheremetyevo (SVO) and Domodedovo (DME) handled seven out of every ten international departing passengers from Russia between them, with double-digit growth of +20% and +17% respectively.

 

FAST GROWTH AT VNUKOVO AIRPORT

In the meantime, Moscow’s third smaller airport of Vnukovo (VKO) which has traditionally handled charter traffic in the past, experienced exceptional growth of +112% in the period, handling 3.4m passengers between January to July 2017 – the same volume as seen in the whole of 2016.

 

CiR adds that other regional gateways like St Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar also soared in high-double digits: “In 2017, we could see international passenger numbers at Russian airports reach levels not previously seen since 2014, where they peaked at just over 53m per annum,” said Stasiulevicuis.

 

Meanwhile, increased international passenger numbers – along with the general strengthening of the rouble against the euro until April 2017 – has impacted positively on tax free sales, with Global Blue reporting average spends by Russians rising to €1,000 ($1,162) in Q1 2017, up from €600 ($697) in the same period during 2016.

 

CiR commented: “The company says the trend has continued throughout 2017, with spending across Europe in August 2017 rising by +25% year-on-year, although the rouble has been on a downward trend again versus the euro and could hit this level of spending.

 

[The market is also expected to receive an additional boost when Russia finally approves duty free arrivals shops and they become fully operational at all of the country’s airports-Ed].

 

FAST AMERICAS’ GROWTH

Meanwhile, CiR’s Business Lounge report suggests that the Americas has seen the biggest growth of Russian travellers at +22%, based on scheduled departing international seat capacities (Oct 2017-Mar 2018).

 

Europe and the Middle East/Africa have followed with +17% and +16% respectively, while Asia was up by only +5%. In addition, China saw a +21% rise.

 

“Into 2018, Europe should see arrivals from Russia continue to rise, whilst the Americas can expect to record the highest rise in scheduled seats,” says Stasiulevicuis.

 

For further information, contact Simon Best, Business Lounge Director: [email protected]