OREANDA-NEWS. Aeroflot PJSC (Moscow Exchange ticker: AFLT) today announces traffic statistics for Aeroflot Group and Aeroflot – Russian Airlines for July and the first seven months of 2016.

7M 2016 Operating Highlights

In the first seven months of 2016, Aeroflot Group carried 24.1 million passengers, up 9.4% year-on-year. Aeroflot airline carried 16.2 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%. Group and Company revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased by 12.2% and 11.3% year-on-year, respectively. Available seat kilometres (ASKs) rose by 8.0% year-on-year for Aeroflot Group and by 8.8% for Aeroflot airline. The passenger load factor increased by 3.1 percentage points (p.p.) year-on-year to 80.6% for the Group and by 1.8 p.p. year-on-year to 80.5% for the Company.

July 2016 Operating Highlights

In July 2016, Aeroflot Group carried 4.4 million passengers, up 5.4% year-on-year. Aeroflot airline carried 2.8 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%.

Group and Company RPKs increased by 11.3% and 7.5% year-on-year, respectively. ASKs rose by 7.1% year-on-year for Aeroflot Group and by 5.5% for Aeroflot airline.

On domestic routes, Group passengers carried and RPKs grew by 1.0% and 5.0% year-on-year, respectively. ASKs decreased by 1.8% year-on-year. Company passengers carried on domestic routes were up 0.4%, while RPKs declined by 2.7% and ASKs declined by 7.2%. The decrease in Company’s ASKs was due to postponement of aircraft deliveries required for summer schedule operations and respective adjustments in the flight program.

On international routes, Group passengers carried rose 12.2% year-on-year while Group RPKs were up 17.3% year-on-year. ASKs for the period increased 15.5% year-on-year. Passengers carried on Aeroflot airline international flights increased 10.1%, RPKs increased by 14.3% and ASKs rose 13.7%. International traffic growth was supported by a decline in competition as several foreign carriers reduced flight frequencies to Russia, Aeroflot airline’s international transit traffic through its Sheremetyevo hub and Transaero’s exit from the market, which triggered a reallocation of domestic and international routes amongst market players.

As a result of these factors, the passenger load factor increased by 3.4 p.p. year-on-year to 90.3% for the Group and by 1.7 p.p. year-on-year to 89.5% for the Company.

Fleet Update

In 7M 2016, the Group added four Boeing 737-800s, four Boeing 747, three Boeing 777-300ER, five SSJ100s, one Airbus A319, three DHC 8-Q400s and five Airbus A320s. Five Airbus A319s, four Airbus A321s, two Airbus A320s, three Boeing 737-500, one Boeing 737-800 and one Boeing 767 were phased out of the Aeroflot Group fleet. The Group fleet increased by nine aircraft, bringing the fleet size to 267 aircraft (excluding one An-24 which was leased out) as of 31 July 2016.

For 7M 2016, Aeroflot airline added four Boeing 737-800s, one Boeing 777-300ER, five SSJ100s and five Airbus A320s. Five Airbus A319s, one Airbus A320 and four Airbus A321s were phased out. Aeroflot airline grew its fleet by five aircraft, bringing the total fleet to 172 aircraft as of 31 July 2016.