The Russian government is considering measures to stimulate development of passenger and cargo traffic by 4-5 and 8-10 times respectively, by 2020.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), a part of the Russian government structure, says it has prepared proposals on the matter for further consideration in the Russian government. They call for twofold increase in the number of active airports and creation of favorable conditions for higher-then-average rise of low-fare airlines, general aviation and business aviation in particular, as well as regional and commuter airlines.

FAS says the situation on the Russian civil aviation market needs radical improvement. By passenger numbers, Russian aviation is now on the same positions it was twenty years ago. The Russian airline’s share in the global air traffic has decreased to less than 2%. FAS also notes that the international passenger flights have been the only point of growth. Meantime, the share of domestic air travel dropped from 75% in 1990 down to 44% in 2009, and that from Russian to other CIS countries from 18% to 6%. With that, the number of active airports decreased by four times. Only 62% of surviving airports have paved services, 70% of all airport objects were built twenty years ago.

Some of the FAS recommendations have been already approved by the government commission for administrative reforms. New recommendations will be considered by the end of this year.