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Russians take to the sky

Pskovavia operates on behalf of Nordavia the only international east-west route in the Barents Region, flying from Arkhangelsk, via Murmansk, to Tromsø in northern Norway.

Air passengers traffic increased by 14 percent in 2013 while long-distance trains loose passengers.

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More than 84 million passengers where flying to and from Russian airports in 2013, according to an overview published on Friday by State Civil Aviation Authority of Russia (SCAA).

Increase is seen in both domestic- and international air traffic. 45 million passengers were onboard international flights, including near eight million on flights between Russia and former Soviet Union countries. Domestic flights carried 39 million passengers, up 10 percent compared with 2012.

The Russian Government is actively supporting development of regional aviation with subsidizes and airport infrastructure investments.

Where does the growing passenger market come from? The 2013 statistics from RZD Russian Railways partly explains. Long-distance passenger numbers were down 5 percent to 110 million, a news release from the state own railway reads.

The five largest Russian airliners are Aeroflot, Transaero, UTair, S7 and Rossia.