MOSCOW: Russia's flagship airline Aeroflot on Monday announced it had returned to profit in the third quarter, shrugging off the impact of the country's economic crisis with a boost in sales and market share.
The state-owned airline, which is a member of the SkyTeam alliance along with Air France-KLM, reported net profits of 5.4 billion rubles ($80.9 million, 76.5 million euros) between July and September, compared to a loss in the same period last year of 1.7 billion rubles.
The airline's turnover was up 38 percent at 133 billion rubles, with passenger numbers up for domestic flights but also due to changes linked to the falling ruble.
The results "reflect the successful implementation of our initiatives to increase efficiency in challenging economic conditions," the deputy CEO for finance, Shamil Kurmashov, said in a statement.
Airlines have been badly hit by the economic crisis in Russia caused by falling oil prices and Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.
Consumers have seen their spending power plummet, while the falling ruble has pushed the cost of fuel and leasing planes rise.
For Aeroflot, operating costs were up 25 percent year-on-year in the third quarter to 102 billion rubles.
Going against the market trend, Aeroflot saw its passenger numbers go up 13 percent to 30. 1 million in the first nine months of 2015, compared to the same period last year.
The third quarter saw growing financial difficulties for Russia's second largest airline, Transaero. Aeroflot was set to buy it, but ended by backing out, due to a failure to come to an agreement with its creditors. The authorities ended by banning Transaero from flying in late October.
Aeroflot later flew some of the passengers who had booked Transaero flights at its own expense.
Aeroflot's Kurmashov said that by doing this the airline had prevented major disruption and this was expected to "support passenger traffic dynamics, expansion of our network, and the Group's profitability going forward."
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