Domestic air carriers will receive about 9 billion rubles from the federal budget to reimburse the costs of flights within the country.

The funds will be transferred to 19 airlines.

This was reported on Monday, November 14, in the Federal Air Transport Agency.

“State support is aimed at repaying the expenses of Russian airlines operating commercial flights from April to October 2022.

They will also ensure the continuation of the activities of Russian airlines and the preservation of civil aviation personnel,” the organization’s press release says.

As noted in the department, it is planned to allocate 100 billion rubles from the government's reserve fund to the program to support carriers.

In April-September, airlines have already received 91 billion rubles, and the remaining amount will be paid in November, the Federal Air Transport Agency added.

Such support will allow civil aviation to minimize losses from the cancellation of some flights to some Russian destinations, according to analysts interviewed by RT.

Recall that against the backdrop of a special military operation in Ukraine, 11 airports were temporarily closed in order to ensure the safety of transportation in southern Russia.

The current restrictions are valid until November 21.

Subsidizing for domestic companies for flights within the country is the main measure to maintain the smooth operation of the aviation industry.

This was told to RT by the first vice-president of the all-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses "Support of Russia" Pavel Sigal.

In turn, without state support, the industry would have incurred serious costs, and the number of available destinations could have decreased, Alexei Fedorov, an analyst at TeleTrade, believes.

“Without state subsidies and other support, the decline in the industry this year could reach 30-35%, and passenger traffic would not exceed 70 million people.

This would be comparable to the indicators of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions were at their peak, ”RT said.

In the first ten months, Russian airlines served about 80 million passengers.

By the end of 2022, the figure should be 100 million, Igor Chalik, Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia, said earlier.

According to him, about 66 million Russians have traveled around the country, and another 14 million have flown abroad.

At the same time, the possibility of reducing air travel prices has become one of the main drivers for maintaining a fairly high level of passenger traffic in 2022, Fedorov is sure.

“Government subsidies motivated airlines to maintain the maximum possible traffic under the current conditions.

Naturally, low prices were the most effective way to attract passengers, which is why air tickets were often sold at cost during the high tourist season,” the analyst added.

In travel mode

According to experts, in many respects the positive dynamics in civil aviation was associated with the growing popularity of domestic tourism.

From May to August, about 25 million people rested in Russia, which exceeded the value of 2021 and the pre-pandemic time, according to Rostourism data.

The interest of Russians in tours around Russia was partly fueled by the promotion of tourist cashback, Pavel Sigal believes.

Recall that the last stage of the program ended in September this year.

Citizens who bought a tour at a discount can go on a trip until December 25, and on a cruise from September 1 until the end of navigation.

Under the terms of the initiative, the state reimburses citizens 20% of the cost of the ticket, but not more than 20 thousand rubles, and when traveling to the Far East, the amount of compensation is up to 40 thousand rubles.

The number of trips is not limited, but the duration of each tour must be at least three nights.

To receive a cashback, you need to pay for a ticket with a MIR bank card, after registering it in the loyalty program on the payment system website.

Money is credited to the card automatically within five days after the purchase.

For the first time, the travel cashback program was launched in 2020.

According to the Federal Tourism Agency, 4.3 million people received discounts on tours during the initiative, more than 2.2 million of them in 2022.

In total, the Russians bought tickets for more than 81 billion rubles, and the state returned them 15.5 billion rubles. 

“In recent years, the interest of citizens in Russian tourism has greatly increased.

This is due to the fact that the state offers a set of measures to develop and improve the recreation sector within the country.

Such efforts do not go unnoticed, since the demand for domestic destinations among the population is steadily growing,” said Pavel Sigal.

Today, approximately 84% of Russian independent tourists prefer to travel within the country.

This is evidenced by the statistics of booking air tickets of the Tutu.ru travel and travel service.

As RT was told in the organization, now the share of the capital accounts for every fifth ticket purchased.

In addition, routes to St. Petersburg, Sochi, Mineralnye Vody, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad and Makhachkala are in high demand.

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The average cost of a one-way ticket per passenger with a flight until the end of autumn is 5.1 thousand rubles, RT was told in the OneTwoTrip travel planning service.

At the same time, Russians are actively booking trips for the winter holidays, although the price of a flight during this period is traditionally higher.

“The average cost of an air ticket with a departure for the New Year holidays (from December 31 to January 8) in Russia one way per person is 6.8 thousand rubles.

Last year, the ticket cost a little cheaper - 6.6 thousand rubles.

Russians choose Moscow to celebrate the New Year, the share of bookings in this direction exceeds 25%.

St. Petersburg (12.9%) and Sochi (7.3%) are also popular,” added the press service of the service.