Russian airports: Kazan airport has hardly been in the top 15
Despite a rise in tourist flow in the capital of Tatarstan, the Interstate Aviation Committee managed to give way to not only big cities but also many neighbours
The Kazan International Airport had a decline in passenger traffic last year. This tendency was common for many air harbours but not for all of them. Several airports, on the contrary, benefited from the crisis. In 2016, a part of the dynamics of many airports has changed, but it is early to talk about a recovery. Realnoe Vremya found out that the Kazan airport is giving way to not only big Moscow players but also many neighbours, 'resort' airports and regional airline headquarters.
Who suffered from the economic crisis and air blockage of Turkey and Egypt?
According to data given by Rosaviation (Editor's Note: Russian Federal Air Travel Agency) for 2015, Kazan International Airport is taking the 14 position among the Russian airports in terms of its passenger traffic. Last year it offered its services to 1,79m passenger, that is to say, by 7,6% than in 2014. This reduction is a characteristic of the majority of Russian airports that worsened their indicators mainly because of the economic crisis and ban on flights to Egypt.
Reduction of income played to Simferopol's hand (almost a twofold growth – by 87%). Sochi also benefited from it (a one-third growth). An insignificant rise in passenger traffic was observed at the airport of Mineral Waters – 2%. A fewer growth has been observed at Sheremetyevo – by 0,1%. Meanwhile, despite difficulties in the aviation industry last year, Vnukovo managed to increase its passenger traffic by a fourth at once.
Passenger traffic at the biggest Russian airport Sheremetyevo continued to grow in the first quarter of 2016 by 7,2%, compared to 2015. Against of a background of the ban of charter flights to Turkey and the acting blockage of flights to Egypt Sochi (a 36% rise), Simferopol (reduced growth rates by 6,4%) continued to increase their passenger traffic. What is more, Tolmachevo in Novosibirsk (by 5%), Kazan (by 4,4%) and Knevichi in Vladivostok (by 3,9%) started to grow. The growth of the latter allowed it to be included in the top 15, though 6 months ago its position was occupied by Yemelyanovo in Krasnoyarsk.
According to the results for the first quarter 2016, Vnukovo has significantly reduced its passenger flow and given its last year's third position to Pulkovo (St. Peterburg). Even t he latter did not show impressing results. The number of passengers has reduced by 6,5%. However, the failure of Vnukovo that operated in the market of charter flights (this is why, this airport was hurt the most after the 'closure' of Turkey and Egypt among all Moscow airports) allowed Pulkovo to be in the top 3.
The Kazan airport giving way to big Moscow players, its neighbours, 'resort' airports and regional airline headquarters
In 2015, the Kazan airport ranked as 14th only if we speak about its passenger traffic. The Kazan's 1,8m against the leaders who are from Moscow are just a drop in the ocean. However, even Moscow airports will seem small in comparison with 'titans' of air carriage: no one of them is included in the world top 50. 101,5m passengers passed through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (the USA, Georgia, the headquarters of Delta Air Lines), which was the biggest hub in the world in 2015. The largest European airport Heathrow's passenger traffic was 75m people.
But let's go back to Russia. The Kazan airport was preceded by, it goes without saying, the three Moscow airports and Petersburg's Pulkovo. 17,5 times more passengers chose Sheremetyevo than Kazan and 17 times more were for Domodedovo. Passenger traffic at these Moscow airports is about 30m people per year. The third Moscow airport Vnukovo and Petersburg Pulkovo handled 16 and 13,5m passengers last year, respectively. There is a 9 and 7,5-time difference from the Kazan airport.
Apart from the airports located in big cities, three resort airports had higher positions than Kazan: Simferopol took the 5 th position (5m passengers or, more precisely, 2,8 times more), Sochi was the 7th (4m people, 2,3 times compared to Kazan) and Mineral Waters ranked as Russia's 13th busiest airport (2m people, that's to say, 10% more than in Kazan).
Airports of six cities with a population over one million people were ahead Kazan. Koltsovo in Yekaterinburg is the largest among them. It serves as Ural Airlines' headquarters that occupied the 6 th position. The airport of the Ural capital handled 4,17m people during the year. It is 2,3 times more than Kazan did.
Tolmachevo in Novosibirsk had a fewer passenger traffic (ranked 8 th). The second largest Russian airline S7 is based here. The Novosibirsk airport operates flights to all eastern destinations of S7. Last year, the major airport of Siberia carried 3,6m passengers, it is 2 times more, compared to Kazan.
Kazan followed after Pashkovsky airport (Krasnodar). It takes the 9 th position on the list of the busiest Russian airports. Pashkovsky is not used as headquarters. However, there is a wider range of flights abroad from Krasnodar than form Kazan. For instance, planes operate flights to Vienna, Dresden, Catania, Sharjah, Munich and Athens. Last year, Pashkovsky carried 3,2m passengers, which is three-quarters more than the result achieved by Kazan.
Who of the neighbours outranked Kazan?
One of the closest cities – Ufa – was on the 10 th position. The airport of the Bashkir capital managed to handle a third more passengers, in spite of the fact that Ufa and Kazan are situated close to each other, the population of the cities is comparable, and Kazan is in higher demand among tourists (it should affect the numbers of the airport). In 2015, 2,3m passengers chose the services of the Ufa airport. It should be noted the Ufa airport operates many flights to Siberian cities, Novy Urengoy, Surgut, Noyabrsk, Kogalym, Khanty-Mansiysk.
Kurumoch from Samara followed after Ufa. This airport annually carries 2,2m passengers, it is ¼ more than Kazan does. It would be fair to note that Kurumoch offers its services to not only Samara with a population about a million people but also a neighbouring big industrial city Togliatti where 712,000 people live.
The airport in Rostov-on-Don occupied the 12 th position. In 2015, its services were used by 2,1m passengers, which is 15% more, compared to Kazan. The existing Rostov airport is situated near the city. At the moment a new airport whose possible names are Yuzhny (Southern) or Platov is being under construction. It is due to start its work at the end on 2017. According to local mass media, the cost of the project is about 18bn rubles.
The honourable (or not so much) 14 th position is occupied by the airport of Kazan that handled 1,8m people in 2015. Last year the top 15 was rounded out by Yemelyanovo (Krasnodar). Last year Yemelyanovo handled only 6,000 people or 0,3% less than Kazan.
Just to compare, we looked at the data of the second international airport of Tatarstan Begishevo in Nizhnekamsk. According to the data for 2015, it took the 45 th position in the ranking among the busiest Russian airports. This indicator is comparable with the airports in Barnaul, Belgorod, Voronezh, Astrakhan, Kemerovo, Vladikavkaz.
airport | passenger traffic, 2015 | % by 2014 | |
1 | Moscow (Sheremetyevo) | 31,279,508 | 100,1 |
2 | Moscow (Domodedovo) | 30,504,515 | 92,3 |
3 | Moscow (Vnukovo) | 15,815,129 | 124,2 |
4 | Saint Petersburg (Pulkovo) | 13,501,454 | 94,7 |
5 | Simferopol (International) | 5,017,758 | 186,9 |
6 | Yekaterinburg (Koltsovo) | 4,170,737 | 93,2 |
7 | Sochi | 4,076,509 | 133 |
8 | Novosibirsk (Tolmachevo) | 3,600,291 | 94 |
9 | Krasnodar (Pashkovsky) | 3,121,630 | 91,3 |
10 | Ufa | 2,291,502 | 97,2 |
11 | Samara (Kurumoch) | 2,193,744 | 93 |
12 | Rostov-on-Don | 2,061,016 | 88,1 |
13 | Mineral Waters | 1,957,121 | 101,9 |
14 | Kazan | 1,794,735 | 92,4 |
15 | Krasnoyarsk (Yemelyanovo) | 1,788,754 | 87,5 |
45 | Nizhnekamsk (Begishevo) | 366,771 | 90,3 |
Source: Russian Federal Air Travel Agency