A total of 1,457,346passengers were handled at Samara Airport during 2008,which is an increase of 63,518 or 4.6%. Along with that, a dynamic increase in passenger traffic through theAirport was recorded on the scheduled flights from Samara to Kaliningrad(+185.3%), Moscow (+6.7%), Tyumen (+120.8%). In 2008 the Airporttogether with air carriers established some new intra-regional routes. The scheduledflights to Kazan, Perm,Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Orenburgand Izhevsk havealready become very popular among the residents of the Samara Region.
Praguewas the most popular international destination last year: here the Airportexperienced growth to the tune of 22% as compared with the last year. Internationalcharter flights (+10.2%) have also provided further evidence of the Airport’scontinuing success.
During thelast three months of 2008 Kurumoch International Airportexperienced other figures slowdown, since the AirUnion Alliance and its membercarriers got bankrupted and defuncted. The loss of such business partners has madea big impact on the Airport’s business activity, since the air carriers performeda number of domestic and international scheduled and charter flights. Here is adetailed background: cargo volumes reduced to 4,033.7 tons (-11.6%), aircraftmovements – to 22,892 (-5.3%) ascompared with 2007. As for maximum take-off weight (MTOW), it made up 1,408,544tons (-3.6%).
Nevertheless,despite the global economic recession, particularly in the air transportindustry, Kurumoch International Airport still retains its business stabilityand continues implementing its large-scale current projects, which areimportant not only to the Airport itself but also to the whole air transportindustry.
To furtherexpand the route network Kurumoch International Airporthas been holding intensive negotiations for potential cooperation with otherRussian and foreign carriers. This year some new air carriers are expected toenter Samara air transport market.
Such carriers as “Aeroflot - Russian Airlines”, “Czech Airlines”, “Orenburg Airlines”, “S7Airlines”, “UTair”, “Rossija STC” showed the most considerable increase in thefigures of 2008. Kurumoch International Airporttogether with air carriers have been constantly striving to widen their routenetwork as well as to increase the frequency of flights on the existingdestinations.