Comparison analysis of passenger traffic by air and rail transport

The article analyses passenger traffic distribution between air transport on domestic air routes and railway transport on the routes of large distances within the Russian Federation. The research objective is to define the air traffic increase potential especially on the distances up to 2500 km. City-pairs air passenger traffic and railway passenger traffic between the destination points statistics for 2014 and 2016, distances between the points of destination and actual economy class air fares and railway compartment carriage tariffs as well data on airports state in corresponding points of destination are used as original information.Pivot tables of traffic on 5 thousand routes by both modes of transport are drawn up.Specific traffic shares by air transport between points of origin (taking off) and destination (landing) are defined. Passenger traffic distribution is evaluated by distance intervals in Russian Federation as a whole and from major airports : Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Sochi and Simferopol. The analysis defines the trend of traffic share increase by air transport along with rising traffic distances. The research reveals that 94,2% of passenger traffic by rail and 83% of traffic by air are carried for the distances up to 2 500 km. The statistics example of passenger traffic from Moscow and Ekaterinburg demonstrates that regional routes with distances up to 1000 km are the main increase potential for the traffic growth. In 2016 traffic share by air transport for the distances interval up to 1000 km was 16%.According to the tariffs analysis the conclusion is made that air fares exceed rail tariffs on flight distances up to 1000 km (because of the short distances flight speculiarities) and on the routes to hard-to-reach and remote areas. Passengers choice in favor of air transport on regional routes depends on creation of economic conditions to attract more passengers.