MOSCOW, July 15 The Ministry of Economic Development considers the increase in prices for air tickets in Russia to be economically justified, they are constantly under the control of the authorities, said Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Kolesnikov.
On Monday, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation Vladimir Poteshkin, at a meeting in the Federation Council “On measures to increase the availability of air transportation,” announced an increase in prices for air tickets in Russia, he explained them by a number of factors: an increase in the cost of transportation, an increase in demand for transportation and the cost of servicing aircraft against the background sanctions. Based on Poteshkin’s words, air ticket prices in Russia have increased by tens of percent since the beginning of the year. 
“We have created an incident regarding prices in the airline industry, in the aviation industry, we are constantly monitoring this. Indeed, the rise in prices, we believe, is economically justified,” Kolesnikov said at the same meeting in the Federation Council.
At the same time, according to him, aviation mobility, that is, the number of passengers per population, is being restored compared to pre-Covid levels. “From the point of view of seat occupancy, in general the situation for the industry, it seems to me, is already atypical, because in the same 2019, the average seat occupancy was 83.9%. Now, by 2023, the average occupancy is 87.6%, and according to the most current data colleagues from the Federal Air Transport Agency are already more than 90%,” said the deputy minister.
““This suggests that our demand is really growing. But from the point of view of supply growth, it is clear that there are still certain limiting factors, including the number of domestic aircraft,” added the deputy head of the Ministry of Economic Development.
He also emphasized that the issue of prices for air travel is important for the Ministry of Economic Development from the point of view of tourism. “In fact, the share of transport costs, generally in the structure of holiday costs, is also extremely important for us. Therefore, we agreed with colleagues from the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency, and the Federal Antimonopoly Service, that we have certain 18 priority tourist destinations. And in these areas “In all aspects, in addition to monitoring prices, we also monitor the availability of seats,” he explained. 
«We essentially coordinate twice a year and take part in coordinating the summer and winter schedules, from the point of view of just these 18 priority areas… If we understand that we have already had several months left in one or another tourist direction A selection of free seats has been made ahead and there are few tickets, colleagues are quickly adding everything,” he continued.
At the same time, he moved his speech regarding additional measures to ensure the availability of air travel to the closed part of the meeting.