MOSCOW, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Russian airlines carried nearly 84 million passengers in the January-September period of this year, marking a 2.6 percent decrease compared to the same period last year, according to Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency.
"Russian airlines carried nearly 84 million passengers in January-September," the agency said Friday in a release, adding that this figure stood at 86.2 million people in the same period last year.
On international routes, passenger traffic for Russian airlines increased by 0.7 percent year on year to 20.4 million people. In contrast, domestic passenger traffic fell by 3.8 percent to 63.3 million people, said the agency.
International passenger traffic at Russian airports increased by 8.2 percent year on year during the period, reaching 38.5 million people, it said.
Aeroflot, Pobeda, S7 Airlines, Rossiya, and Ural Airlines ranked among the top five carriers by passenger volume, the agency said, adding that together they accounted for 70.1 percent of total passenger transport. ■