Head of Aeroflot says increasing ticket prices is inevitable in 2023

Prices for flights within Russia in 2023 may increase, at least by the level of inflation, the head of Aeroflot Sergey Alexandrovsky said in an interview with RBC, Report informs.

According to him, next year, the company could redirect all additional expenses to passengers, but it will not do this due to the limited purchasing power of the population.

At the end of the third quarter of 2022, according to Rosstat, the real disposable income of the population (income minus mandatory payments, adjusted for inflation) decreased by 3.4% compared to the same period in 2021.

“Under these conditions, we cannot increase the cost [of tickets] by 20-30%; then we will have to reduce our volumes [of transportation] significantly,” Alexandrovsky noted.

The head of Aeroflot specified that the average cost of a ticket for domestic flights has decreased, while for international flights, it has increased.

“Our task is to maintain the availability of flights primarily in the domestic market,” he added.

In 2022, the average air transportation tariffs remained at the level of the last two years and decreased by 6.5% compared to 2019.

In December, the Ministry of Transport announced that it would lower the rates for servicing aircraft in the regions. The ministry took this decision to reduce the price of air tickets.