OREANDA-NEWS. Aeroflot PJSC (Moscow Exchange ticker: AFLT) today announces traffic statistics for Aeroflot Group ("the Group") and Aeroflot – Russian Airlines ("the Company") for October and ten months of 2016.

10M 2016 Operating Highlights

In 10M 2016, Aeroflot Group carried 36.7 million passengers, up 9.5% year-on-year. Aeroflot airline carried 24.3 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. Group and Company revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased by 13.7% and 11.1% year-on-year, respectively. Available seat kilometres (ASKs) rose by 9.5% year-on-year for Aeroflot Group and by 8.7% for Aeroflot airline. The passenger load factor increased by 3.0 percentage points (p.p.) year-on-year to 82.2% for the Group and by 1.7 p.p. year-on-year to 82.0% for the Company.

October 2016 Operating Highlights

In October 2016, Aeroflot Group carried 3.8 million passengers, up 11.5% year-on-year. Aeroflot airline carried 2.6 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%.

Group and Company RPKs increased by 19.0% and 12.7% year-on-year, respectively. ASKs rose by 15.9% year-on-year for Aeroflot Group and by 10.8% for Aeroflot airline.

On domestic routes, Group passengers carried and RPKs grew by 3.6% and 6.9% year-on-year, respectively. ASKs grew by 7.5% year-on-year. Company passengers carried and RPKs on domestic routes were up 7.8% and 4.1% year-on-year, respectively. ASKs grew by 5.9%.

In October 2016, the number of passengers carried on the Group’s international routes increased by 23.7% year-on-year. RPKs increased by 29.8%, while capacity grew by 23.0%. The number of passengers carried by Aeroflot airline on international routes in October 2016 increased by 14.6%. RPKs increased by 18.0%, and ASKs by 13.6%. Growth in the international segment was driven by the stable macroeconomic situation, increased flight frequencies and the launch of flights to new international destinations, as well as the development of Rossiya’s charter programme and of Pobeda’s international route network.

As a result of these factors, the passenger load factor increased by 2.2 p.p. year-on-year to 81.0% for the Group and by 1.3 p.p. year-on-year to 81.9% for the Company.

Fleet Update

In 10M 2016, the Group added seven Boeing 737-800s, seven Boeing 747, seven Boeing 777-300ER, six SSJ100s, one Airbus A319, five DHC 8-Q400s, nine Airbus A320s and 12 Airbus A321s. Five Airbus A319s, six Airbus A321s, three Airbus A320s, three Boeing 737-500, one Boeing 737-800, one Boeing 767 and two An-148s were phased out of the Aeroflot Group fleet. The Group fleet increased by 33 aircraft, bringing the fleet size to 291 aircraft (excluding one An-24 which was leased out) as of 31 October 2016.

For 10M 2016, Aeroflot airline added six Boeing 737-800s, two Boeing 777-300ER, six SSJ100s, nine Airbus A320s and 12 Airbus A321s. Five Airbus A319s, one Airbus A320 and six Airbus A321s were phased out. Aeroflot airline grew its fleet by 23 aircraft, bringing the total fleet to 190 aircraft as of 31 October 2016.