A Russian airline geared towards the middle and working class of Russia has increased profits and passenger traffic in the low single digits. In America, much of a company’s increase in sales may come from population increases in the population of America itself, in other words there are more and more consumers every year. In Russia, the population is stagnant at best, probably declining slightly every year so when a company posts higher profits, and its product is aimed at the middle classes, likely living standards have increased somewhat for this population in the past year as well.