Russian carriers will need more than 1,000 passenger aircraft over the next 20 years in response to the strong traffic growth, according to the latest Airbus Global Market Forecast (GMF). The forecast ranks Russia sixth in the top ten countries for passenger aircraft demand after US, China, India, Germany and UK. The Russian passenger aircraft fleet of 100 seats or more is expected to grow strongly from 519 aircraft in service in 2010 to 1,058 by 2030. This means that over the next 20 years Russian airlines will need 1,006 aircraft, valued at US$ 95 billion to meet fleet growth as well as aircraft replacement. These additional aircraft will include some 839 single-aisle aircraft which are currently prominent in the region’s fleet, 145 wide-bodies and some 22 Very Large Aircraft (VLA) to satisfy strong international travel growth.
The growing demand for aircraft is the consequence of the impressive increase of passenger traffic in Russia driven by consistent economic growth and the ongoing airline consolidation. According to Airbus forecast, passenger traffic in Russia is expected to increase at a rate of 5.6 per cent per year on average over the next 20 years, which is much faster than the world average of 4.8 per cent. The biggest traffic growth is expected to be on international destinations from Russia to Asia-Pacific (+7%) and CIS regions (6.7%).
