How many Russian tourists fly abroad and which airlines

According to Rosaviatsia data presented in September and October 2025, Russia currently has direct air service to 41 countries. International passenger flights from Russia are operated by 21 Russian airlines and 65 foreign ones.

Seven destinations (India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cuba, the Maldives, the Seychelles, and Indonesia) are served exclusively by Russian airlines. Aeroflot operates on all of these routes. Aeroflot, for example, operates flights to Delhi, Mahe, and Denpasar exclusively.

About half of the passengers who choose to fly abroad on flights operated by Russian airlines belong to the Aeroflot Group. In the first half of 2025, 6.2 million people out of 12.7 million, who flew abroad on Russian airlines used Aeroflot. Accordingly, the remaining half was divided among the other 20 airlines.

Moreover, unlike the domestic air travel market, the international segment is growing. The Transport Clearing Chamber calculated that in the first eight months of 2025, demand for domestic travel fell by 3.1% compared to the same period in 2024 (to 55.8 million passengers). The number of passengers using Russian airlines' international flights remained the same as the previous year—approximately 18 million. Meanwhile, airports handled 33.6 million passengers on international flights, an 8.1% increase compared to January-August 2024.

According to data presented by Aeroflot in its investor presentation, foreign airlines' share of international traffic from Russia reached 41.8% in the first quarter of 2025, up 3.3 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024.

These statistics clearly demonstrate that foreign airlines are in demand among Russian passengers, and, moreover, interest in them is only growing.

Photo by N. Klimenok