Patchy liberalization

Unlike on the US and EU air transport markets, where domestic air services equal if not exceed international operations in the number of passengers carried, many Russian airlines are primarily focused on expanding their international route networks. According to ATO Source Book 2013, the country’s top five international routes in passengers carried connect Moscow to Antalya, Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh, Barcelona, and Yerevan. The Moscow-Kiev route is not far behind; the number of passengers flown between these two cities has doubled over the past four years. The Russian and Ukrainian authorities agreed in early 2013 to lift all restrictions on the number of carriers and flight frequencies for this city pair.

"There are signs that a similar liberalization may be possible with Yerevan," says Russian Deputy Transport Minister Valery Okulov. "As for a number of other CIS countries, the situation is totally drastic. We seem to be consistently failing in our attempts to liberalize the air transport market with Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. We have made some headway [towards liberalizing the markets] with France, Italy, and a number of other countries, but we need to see more tangible results."