OREANDA-NEWS. Transaero Airlines announced its operational results for 2014. The results highlight that the airline has achieved record numbers in terms of passenger traffic and passenger turnover, and has enhanced its product quality and competitiveness under extremely complex conditions.

Number of passengers carried reached 13,198,591 passengers (a 5.6% increase over 2013).

Passenger turnover increased to 47,066,421 thousand RPK (0.1% more than in 2013).

The airline carried 69,332.83 tonnes of cargo (a 0.6 % decrease over 2013).

Transaero's passenger traffic on domestic routes reached 3,909,417 passengers, and the airline's passenger traffic on international routes was 9,289,174 passengers.

The airline's passenger load factor reached 83.5%, which was the highest result among the top five largest carriers in Russia.

The airline also kept the leading position among the Russian airlines in terms of cargo turnover on domestic routes.

The airline's fleet expanded as two Boeing 737-800 and four Boeing 767-300 aircraft joined the fleet. In the end of 2014, the airline operated the fleet of 103 aircraft: 20 Boeing 747, 14 Boeing 777, 18 Boeing 767, 46 Boeing 737, 3 Тu-214, 2 Тu-204-100С aircraft. The airline remained the largest operator of widebody aircraft fleet in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe.

According to JACDEC international ranking upon the results of 2014, Transaero was named among the top 20 safest airlines in the world, being the only Russian carrier on the list of top 20 safest carriers.

The airline's overall route network in 2014 covered more than 260 domestic and international routes, including 14 new routes.

In January 2014 Transaero Airlines launched its low-cost service called Discount class. The project has proved to be a great success as 1.8 million passengers traveled in this class in the past year.

In the summer operational season, Transaero Airlines made a significant contribution to the development of domestic tourism, first, through improving accessibility to the resorts in the southern part of Russia by air transport. The airline for the first time used Boeing 747 aircraft to serve routes from Moscow and St Petersburg to the destinations in the southern region of Russia.

The company was actively involved in the government programme of subsidized air travel for residents of the Russia's Far East. The airline offered subsidized services on 13 routes from Moscow and St Petersburg.

In December 2014 the Board of Directors of Transaero Airlines, having taken into consideration the significant changes in external factors, made a decision to amend the company's Development Strategy. In November 2014 Transaero started to implement the comprehensive programme aimed at enhancing its business efficiency. The programme was developed with due consideration of the recommendations of the international consultancy firm McKinsey. This programme is to be implemented within six months of its launch. It includes measures to optimize the airline's passenger capacity and its route network. The programme also aims at expanding transfer offering available for passengers, increasing its cargo operations. Transaero has also started its active work to attract greater passenger flow and raise retail revenues.

When summarizing the results of 2014, Olga Pleshakova, CEO Transaero Airlines, said: „Despite the extremely complex macroeconomic conditions and increased instability in the regions of mass international travel, our company continued its development, fully met its commitments providing services to its passengers, and strengthened its position as the second largest passenger airline in Russia. This has been achieved thanks to the high professional level and responsible work of all the airline's personnel. I would like to express my gratitude to all the passengers and reliable partners of Transaero Airlines for their confidence. In 2015 Transaero Airlines will continue its operations with utmost consideration for economic conditions and the market situation. The implementation of the comprehensive set of measures will provide for maximal efficiency of the airline's operations as well as allow overcoming all the challenges in the same way as it happened many times in the 23-year history of the airline."