Experts of Aeroclub (Air Club) State Corporation, a leader of the business tourism market, analyzed business travels of Russian and foreign corporations and figured out how the business activity between Russia and neighboring CIS countries has changed for the past few years.
As it turned out, Kazakhstan,Ukraine and Uzbekistanhave had the largest business interest among business travelers for several years.Belarus has taken the 4thplace for three years, as regards the number of reserved air tickets, while Georgia has closed the top five CIS countries for the last year.
Demand for flights to Georgiahas increased by 59%, as compared to last year, with mainly due to the staff of pharmaceutical, IT and FMCG-companies. It is worth noting thatAzerbaijanhad confidently occupied this position in the previous few years.
The most significant increase in prices for flights to CIS cities has been recorded since the H2 2014 when an average air ticket was increased in prices by almost RUR 4,000 and reached RUR 19,500 by the fall of 2015, but since then prices have not wavered.
“Since the fall of 2015, we have witnessed a large-scale redistribution of passenger traffic between air carriers serving CIS destinations. In addition, demand for flights among the largest Russian and foreign corporations has increased by 16%, so some airlines were able to maintain an acceptable level of loading of passenger seats during the widespread failure to travel by individual travelers. Over the past year, the number of trips among employees of pharmaceutical companies to CIS countries has more than doubled, which ensured steady demand for flights to Kazakhstan,Georgia and Armenia. The number of trips among representatives of the IT industry has increased by 22%, most of which came to Kazakhstan,Azerbaijan and Belarus”, Denis Matyuhin, CEO, Aeroclub (Air Club) State Corporation, sums up.