MOSCOW, 5 March 2024. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey on the Russian opinions about civil aviation.
High into the sky…
Over the recent 2-3 years every third Russian has flown various air companies (32%, + 4 p.p. compared to 2022), including 22% who flew no more than three times, and 10%, four times and more. Since 2018, Russians have been flying as actively as before (2018 – 29%, 2021 – 29%, 2022 - 28%, 2023 – 32%).
|
Fly by air…
The survey revealed that most of Russians had flown with Aeroflot over the recent years (45%). The top three most popular air companies also include Pobeda (28%) and S7 Airlines (25%). A further 15% say they have flown Ural Airlines; 8%, Utair; 7%, Rossiya Airlines (7%). Respondents also mentioned Turkish Airlines (5%), Nordwind Airlines (4%), Smartavia, and Red Wings (3%, each).
Four-in-ten Russian air travelers consider Aeroflot to be the safest Russian air company (42%). Every tenth mentions S7 Airlines (10%); Pobeda is ranked third (4%). Respondents also think that flying with the following air companies is safe: Utair, Turkish Airlines and Ural Airlines (3%, each). Another 2% mention Emirates.
The list of the cheapest air companies, as viewed by Russians who have flown by air over the recent 2-3 years, is headed by Pobeda (40%), followed with a huge gap by Aeroflot (10%), S7 Airlines (8%), Ural Airlines (6%), Nordwind Airlines (3%), Utair and Smartavia (2%, each).
Rossiya Airlines is regaining its leadership in comfortable flights with high-quality service (44%). This is followed by Turkish Airlines (4%), Ural Airlines, Pobeda and Emirates (3%, each).
VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 24 February, 2024. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18+ took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. Data were weighted for social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Key effectiveness indicators, survey of February 24, 2024: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.8074; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0153; response rate (RR)*** = 0.0635. Calculations are based on the corporate standard: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/
* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.
** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.
** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.
Have you flown any of the following air companies over the recent 2-3 years, if so, how often? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||
| 2014* | 2015* | 2018 | 2021 | 2022 | 2024 |
Once | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
2-3 times | 7 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 14 |
4-5 times | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
6 times and more | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
No, never | 79 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 71 | 68 |
Don’t know | 2 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Have you flown any of the following air companies over the recent 2-3 years, if so, how often? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
| Total | Men | Women | Ages 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + |
Once | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 6 |
2-3 times | 14 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 10 |
4-5 times | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
6 times and more | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
No, never | 68 | 65 | 71 | 67 | 55 | 65 | 64 | 81 |
Don’t know | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
What air companies have you flown with over the recent 2-3 years? (open-ended question, any number of questions, % of those who flew; shown are answers that gained > 1%) | |
Aeroflot – Russian airlines | 45 |
Pobeda | 28 |
S7 Airlines | 25 |
Ural Airlines | 15 |
Utair | 8 |
Rossiya Airlines | 7 |
Turkish Airlines | 5 |
Nordwind Airlines | 4 |
Smartavia | 3 |
Red Wings | 3 |
Travel agents | 1 |
Krasavia | 1 |
Azur Air | 1 |
Azimut | 1 |
Aurora | 1 |
Nordstar | 1 |
Izhavia | 1 |
Flydubai | 1 |
Yamal | 1 |
Emirates | 1 |
Severstal | 1 |
Alrosa | 1 |
Air Аstana, Skat (Airlines of Kazakhstan) | 1 |
Other | 4 |
Don’t know | 13 |
What is the safest airline, in your opinion? (open-ended question, any number of questions, % of those who flew, shown are answers that gained > 1%) | |
Aeroflot | 42 |
S7 Airlines | 10 |
Pobeda | 4 |
Utair | 3 |
Turkish Airlines | 3 |
Ural Airlines | 3 |
Emirates | 2 |
Rossiya Airlines | 1 |
Travel agencies | 1 |
Foreign airlines | 1 |
Lufthansa | 1 |
None | 1 |
Nordwind Airlines | 1 |
Smartavia | 1 |
Alrosa | 1 |
Russian airlines | 1 |
Flydubai | 1 |
Yamal | 1 |
Any, all, I don’t care | 4 |
Other | 2 |
Don’t know | 37 |
What air companies are the cheapest to fly with? (open-ended question, any number of questions, % of those who flew, shown are answers that gained > 1%) | |
Pobeda | 40 |
Aeroflot | 10 |
S7 Airlines | 8 |
Ural Airlines | 6 |
Nordwind Airlines | 3 |
Utair | 2 |
Smartavia | 2 |
Travel agencies | 1 |
Turkish Airlines | 1 |
Rossiya Airlines | 1 |
Azimut | 1 |
Red Wings | 1 |
Russian airlines | 1 |
Other | 2 |
Don’t know | 33 |
What air companies have the most comfortable flights, the best customer and in-flight service? (open-ended question, any number of questions, % of those who flew, shown are answers that gained >1%) | |
Aeroflot | 44 |
S7 Airlines | 14 |
Turkish Airlines | 4 |
Ural airlines | 3 |
Pobeda | 3 |
Emirates | 3 |
Flydubai | 1 |
Utair | 1 |
Lufthansa | 1 |
Foreign airlines | 1 |
Rossiya Airlines | 1 |
Yamal | 1 |
Nordstar | 1 |
Nordwind Airlines | 1 |
Alrosa | 1 |
Travel agencies | 1 |
Qatar Airways | 1 |
Air Аstana, Skat (Airlines of Kazakhstan) | 1 |
Any, all, I don’t care | 2 |
Other | 2 |
Don’t know | 31 |
* Before 2017, surveys were conducted through household face-to-face interviews (“Express” project); stratified multi-stage quota-based sample; quotas based on socio-demographic parameters, representative of the Russian population aged 18+ by settlement type, sex, gender, education and federal district. Sample size: 1,600 respondents.