In the Face of Collapse, Russian Aviation Seeks Aid from Iran

Loudening Signals of Economic Distress

Russia’s civil aviation sector is on the verge of collapse (Licensed Image)

The fastest flight between Kaliningrad and Vladivostok takes 12 hours and ten minutes. A domestic flight from the eastern edge to the western edge of Russia would cover an immense distance, as Russia is the largest country in the world by land area, stretching across Eastern Europe and Northern Asia.

The Russian Federation is the largest aviation market in Europe by the number of seats and carried 96.9 million passengers in 2021.
Russia is enormous, and so is the influence of its aviation industry on the economy. The following data from IATA, (far more reliable than the numbers presented by the Russian agencies), shows the value of the industry’s contribution to the Russian economy.

• The air transport industry, including airlines and its supply chain, are estimated to support US $19.1 billion of GDP in the Russian Federation.
• Spending by foreign tourists supports a further US $3.6 billion of the country’s GDP, totaling to US $22.7 billion.
• In total, 1.8 percent of the country’s GDP is supported by inputs to the air transport sector and foreign tourists arriving by air.