In the last decade, only once has Ural Airlines’ annual passenger numbers fallen; between 2004 and 2005. With that exception, growth has been consistent and the airline is now three times the size it was ten years ago.
The airline’s rapid expansion continues in 2011 as well. For this year’s first six months, passenger numbers are up by 32%.
Ural Airlines’ traffic is highly seasonal, with a peak to off-peak ratio of around 3 over the last few years. August is the airline’s busiest month, followed closely by July. The seasonality pattern has been very similar over the years, clearly showing the growth in passenger numbers by year. However, in the first half of 2009, passenger numbers were down, only to be compensated by growth in the second half of the year.
63% of Ural Airlines’ seat capacity is on domestic services, however, this is down from 76% a year ago as the airline expands its international network. The airline’s international seat capacity is now up by an entire 54% compared with October last year.
Last week, the airline launched four new international routes, all notably from other airports than its main hub at Koltsovo. The airline’s international growth strategy appears to focus on launching low-frequency services to select foreign destinations from a wide range of Russian airports. The airline has announced three further routes to Dubai this year as well as another route to Harbin.
Among Ural Airlines’ largest international markets are three Central Asian CIS states; Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan; however, the growth comes from elsewhere. The fastest-growing of the top 10 foreign markets are China (+250%) and Turkey (+228%), the latter now being the third-largest market. The only market to have shrunk since last October is another popular leisure destination for Russians – Egypt – although capacity is only down by 5%.
Georgia is an altogether new country market for Ural Airlines, which launched two routes to the country in August; between Moscow Domodedovo and Kutaisi as well as from Ekaterinburg to Tbilisi.
