Figures prepared by the Russian United Business Aviation Association (RUBAA) for June–normally the busiest month for Russian business aviation—show that business jet movements went steadily down over the past three years: 5,214 in 2014; 4,731 in 2015; and 4,036 for 2016. Speaking on September 7 at Business Aviation Forum 2016 – a ninth annual event in the row to have been held in Moscow - Alexander Kuleshov, RUBAA chairman of the board, said his organization has prepared its own statistics on business jet movements since 2014. The move was made because association members felt there was a “shortage of information available from governmental sources and aviation authorities.” Kuleshov further said that RUBAA now sees collecting and processing relevant data and sharing it with member companies as one of its duties from now on.
RUBAA has collected data on flights performed by business jets in their busiest destinations, which generate more than 80 percent of traffic – Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Nizhy Novgorod, Rostov and Sochi . By its count, the number of business jet flights dropped from 26,660 in 2014 to 22,893 in 2015 and 20,467 in 2016 (figures for the first three quarters). The number of passengers carried on these flights was 88,052; 73,692 and 65,138, respectively.

Respective figures on passengers for the busiest month in a year (which turns to be either July or August) were 17,585; 15,693 and 12,758, accordingly year-over-year since 2014. On passengers, Kuleshov noted a new tendency: business jet travelers are beginning to share a charter when flying with family members to popular summer holiday destinations.

RUBAA data indicated that the international flights sector has been affected most. Business jet movements in and out of Moscow airports (to all destinations abroad) numbered 2,700 in December 2014 and 2,227 in December 2015, while the summer peaks were 3,405; 2,965 and 2,422 in the three consequent years. The lowest month of all was in February 2016, with 1,642 flights compared to 2,282 in February 2014.

The domestic flight sector also dipped in 2014-2015, from 1,136 to 751 for the busiest summer month. But it stabilized in 2016, fluctuating between 1,100 and 1,500 flights a month since March with little difference between this year and last.

Comparing figures for the first half of the year, 2014 vs 2016, Kuleshov noticed that the number of flights performed by foreign operators shank by 34 percent (from 21,394 down to 14,169), while those made by Russian companies rose by 22 percent (from 4,142 up to 5,062).

RUBAA counted a total of 3,756 city pairs for business jet movements in the past three years. Moscow generates about three-fourths of the business jet traffic in Russia. Among top foreign destinations there are Nice (10 percent of all departures), London (7.3 percent), Geneva (2.9 percent) followed by Riga and Paris. Most popular domestic destinations are St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan and –coming in fourth with 4.8 percent - Simferopol in Crimea.

Wrapping up, the RUBAA chairman said: “Clearly, there is a general negative trend…and yet the amount of traffic generated by business aviation in this country remains rather big.” He described the changes in the business aviation traffic in Russia as “considerable,” but not as “drastic” as in South America wher “the changes have been even more dramatic.” havin said this, Kuleshov refrained from any further reasoning and analysis, and instead advised the forum participants “to do your homework with these figures… and find out what the situation is for yourself.” RUBAA has 100 member companies and is an associate member of the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA).