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Russian airlines are reducing the number of flights due to a growing shortage of aircraft.

Source: The Moscow Times

Details: The Aeroprogress Russian research centre noted that in 2025, domestic air traffic will decline by 6.1% to 79.5 million passengers and international traffic will decrease by 6.7% to 25.2 million.

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Rosaviatsiya (Russian Federal Air Transport Agency) also expects a drop, but on a smaller scale: by 1.5% to 83.3 million passengers on domestic flights and by 2% to 26.4 million on international flights.

The reduction was due to a shortage of aircraft. In 2024, Russian airlines retired 58 aircraft due to repair issues, reducing the overall fleet to 1,138 jets and 920 helicopters.

Because of sanctions, it is impossible to purchase new aircraft in Europe or the United States, and Boeing and Airbus have stopped delivering replacement parts and technical assistance. As a result, the corporations are compelled to repair the aircraft themselves, which often involves disassembling one jet to fix another.

The Russian authorities promised to deliver more than 1,000 new aircraft to airlines by 2030, but over the three years of war, the factories produced only five: three Tu-214s and two Il-96-300s. In 2025, the government cut the production plan by 1.5 times.

Background:

  • Russian airlines had to retire 58 passenger aircraft in 2024.
  • S7’s subsidiary, S7 Development Centre, had frozen the construction of a plant in St Petersburg to produce parts for gas turbine engines. 

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