Sky Express, a low-cost airline, flew 217,661 passengers in the four months of 2009, which is 16% less than in the first four months of 2008, the carrier’s press officer reports.

‘Now that the whole Russian air industry is going trough some trouble, Sky Express’s main challenge is to keep up with last year’s passenger turnover figures and the number of operated flights,’ says the company’s General Director Marina Bukalova.

In fact, the airline’s passenger turnover amounted to 305,457,726 passenger-kilometers in January-April 2009, which falls short of last year’s figures by 17.5%. In the meantime, the company intends to expand its aircraft supply up to seventeen planes by 2011.