The spheres of low cost and business aviation are an important direction for stimulating competition in the air transport industry, said deputy prime-minister Sergei Ivanov.

He spoke at a meeting of the Russian government committee for transport and communications. According to Ivanov, the share of these spheres in the grand total of air transportation work stands at 40-45%. He further said that these spheres are not well developed in Russia, – he even used the word «embryonic». A highly intensive growth of the Russian business aviation before the worldwide economic crisis brought Russia closer to the world’s leaders. For a little while Russian fleet and traffic volumes came close to large European countries. But then, after the crisis stroke, the volumes went down by one-third.

Now, the deputy prime minister said, it is important that the business aviation regains its positions and start playing a vital role in the Russian air transport industry. He draw attention to «the processes of business concentration» in the Russian air transportation market and the fact that ten airline leave the market because they broke rights of the passengers, demonstrated deplorable punctuality of fights, and insufficient air safety.

Ivanov stated that removing «weak and inefficient» carriers out of the market makes the airline industry stronger and healthier. According to his words, the lion’s share of the air traffic is produced by some thirty airlines – in 2009 they performed 95% of all flights. Top three airlines carried 44% of all Russian passengers.

Before Sergei Ivanov made these statements, head of Rosaviatsiya (Russian civil aviation authority) Aleksandr Neradko said that several airlines were expected to merge.