Economic Growth in Russia and Asia is Fueling a Significant Increase in Air Travel Between the Two Regions
14.07.2008 —
The economic expansion occurring in both Asia and Russia is reflected in the robust growth in air travel between the two regions.
Overall, travel between Russia and Asia has grown in excess of 20 percent in the past year. In certain key markets such as Russia-China, Russia-Kazakhstan and Russia-Uzbekistan, the growth has actually been well in excess of this figure. More moderate growth is seen between Russia and Asian countries with more mature economies such as Japan and Thailand, which grew less than 5 percent over the past year, and there is even a decline between Russia and Korea.
Accounting for approximately 30 percent of total travel between Russia and Asia, travel between Russia and China represents the largest bilateral flow. Both countries have been putting emphasis on strengthening their relationship, and as a result, 2006 was celebrated as the “Year of Russia in China,” followed by the “Year of China in Russia” in 2007. Additionally, trade between the two countries grew 40 percent in 2007, driven mostly by exports from China to Russia, and this pattern is reflected in the expansion of air travel between the two nations, which grown about 35 percent in the past year, principally driven from demand from China.
The most heavily traveled routes, those between major centers such as Moscow, Beijing and Shanghai, have seen traffic grow by 30 percent, but some less prominent routes are also growing rapidly. Urumqi is a case in point. Two-thousand years ago, Urumqi was an important town on the Silk Road trade routes. Today this industrial northwestern Chinese city of two million is experiencing a revival in the importance of trade to the region. As China seeks to increase its access to European markets by establishing transportation links directly across Russia, air travel between Urumqi and Moscow is up almost 50 percent in the past year, placing it amongst the top five city pairs between the two countries.
Travel between Russia and both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is also experiencing strong growth. Trade between Russia and Kazakhstan, which includes significant amounts of oil and Natural Gas, grew by 25 percent in 2007. This helped to drive an approximately 35 percent growth in air travel between the two countries. The largest flow, Moscow-Almaty, accounting for about 50 percent of the air traffic between the two countries, grew by the national average; however, traffic between the two capital cities, Moscow and Astana, grew well over 50 percent, closely reflecting the 42 percent increase in capacity that Air Astana, the nation’s flag carrier, implemented in 2007. Travel between Russia and Uzbekistan, another country with rich energy resources, grew in the order of 50 percent, closely matching the 40 percent growth in trade between the two countries.
About Travelport
Travelport is one of the world's largest travel conglomerates offering broad based business services to companies operating in the global travel industry. The company is comprised of Travelport GDS, a global distribution system business that includes the Worldspan and Galileo brands; GTA, a group travel and wholesale hotel business; Business Intelligence Services, a data analysis business; and IT Services and Software, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business solutions for major airlines.
Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), a leading global online travel company. With on-going annual revenues of approximately $2.6 billion, Travelport operates in 145 countries and has approximately 6,000 employees.
Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management.