OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2010. Vnukovo’s year-on-year passenger growth has so far seen a substantial improvement across the entire range of its air transportation operations. A total of 5 million 283 thousand air travelers have used the Airport's services over the period under review, a 28 % improvement against last year's same period. More than 83 thousand flights have been handled at the Airport from January to July, 2010, a 16,8 % growth against the same period in 2009.

The Airport's international passenger (those bound for the CIS nations and farther abroad) numbers have comprised 1 million 681 thousand, having improved by 27 % against the same period last year, with Antalya, Hurghada, Barcelona, Yerevan, Dushanbe, Tashkent, Cologne, and Berlin topping the list of most popular destinations.

Vnukovo's domestic passenger numbers during the year's seven months have comprised 3 million 602 thousand, a 28,6 % improvement over last year's same period. The cities of Krasnodar, Sochi, Saint-Petersburg, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Mineralnye Vody, and Vladivstok have consistently appeared at the top of the Airport's most popular destination list.

In July Vnukovo International handled 14,5 thousand flights, having welcomed 1 million 73 thousand air travelers, improving its same-period-of-last-year results by 16,9 and 28,0 % respectively.

July's international passenger traffic returns stood at 412 thousand passengers, a 52,7 % monthly improvement year-on-year. There is also every indication of persistent growth trend on international scheduled services: July, 2010 saw a total of 171 thousand air travelers welcomed, a more than a two-fold improvement against the same month of last year. Now the Airport's domestic air travel segment accounted for 661 thousand passengers handled in July, 2010, a 16,3 percent same-period growth against the year 2009.

Vnukovo International is one of Russia's largest air gateways with more than 130 thousand flights - operated by both domestic and foreign air carriers - handled here annually. The Airport's route network spans most of Russia's regions, the CIS and other former Union-member nations, as well as destinations in the farther-flung corners of Western Europe, Asia, and Africa.