Why pay passengers? Current airfare.

The current economic situation in Russia is very painful strikes on transportation of passengers in civil aviation, and occasionally come to the most negative news that passenger traffic on airlines (domestic and international) is reduced, and the cost of tickets is increasing.

Editorial Portal Avia.pro, with the assistance of experts tried to figure out how much is really worth passenger traffic on domestic routes and outside the country, and whether the deplorable situation resolved when the correct approach to the organization of civil passenger transportation.

What is included in the cost to the airline tickets? It is not necessary to have a mathematical turn of mind to realize that in fact, the price of the ticket is set based on the number of aircraft overcome kilometers, fuel consumption and average load flight. For example, you can take a passenger airliner Boeing 737-800, which is quite common among domestic air carriers to cover distances of up to 5765 kilometers (flight performance of Boeing 737-800 - ed.). The maximum passenger capacity of such aircraft is 189 people, however, assuming an average aircraft load of 80%, it is possible to simplify the solution of the problem by assuming that the aircraft will accommodate 150 passengers. Taking into account such flight technical characteristics of the Boeing 737-800 as the maximum flight range, maximum fuel capacity (20894 kg - editor's note), as well as the average cost of fuel (as of 28.08.2015, the cost of one ton of aviation fuel at the airport "Domodedovo" including VAT and refueling is 47776 rubles - editor's note), it should be assumed that to cover the distance of 5765 kilometers, refueling the aircraft will cost the airline 998 rubles.

In fact, it may seem that the amount for the air carrier is quite large, however, making further calculation, and dividing the total amount of fuel costs by the average load of an airplane (150 passengers), it turns out that the actual cost of an air ticket for one person costs 6655 rubles. Nevertheless, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that the air carrier should not only make a profit, but also spend additional funds for servicing aircraft, payment for employees of the airline, airport services, etc. It can be assumed that the amount of the air ticket surcharge Will be 150%, which ultimately corresponds to the price of 16637 rubles per 5765 kilometers.

Manufactured calculation can easily be compared with the current prices at approximate route (within the difference in 50 kilometers):

• Moscow - Beijing (5800 km.) - the average price of an air ticket in August is 32300 rubles.

Likewise, air carriers intend to make an almost fivefold profit from each flight that they make, which, of course, due to high prices, reduces the interest of passengers, leads to a decrease in passenger traffic and the actual termination of flights to destinations in the event of insufficient demand.

According to experts, if the current prices are reduced by 30-50%, the passenger traffic will increase, while, with a high degree of certainty, it will be possible to say that flights will be loaded by 95-97%, and will be able to fully pay for themselves, bringing profit to air carriers, without any additional costs associated with no flow.

Kostyuchenko Yuriy specifically for Avia.pro