Aviation News

As of May 1, 2012, TUI Russia will start operating its own airline Metrojet (this will be the rebranded regional carrier Kolavia). The new carrier will serve most of TUI's charter flights from Russia to Turkey, Egypt, Spain and other destinations requiring charters.

In March, Russia and France have agreed to allow a second carrier from Moscow to Paris and Nice. The new carrier is expected to fly 7 times a week to each destination. Until now, only Air France and Aeroflot were able to fly this route.

As of summer 2012, Czech Airlines will operate flights to Prague from 6 regional Russian cities including: St-Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Ufa and Nizhny Novgorod. Until now Czech Airlines operated direct flights to Prague only from Moscow. According to Czech Tourism, 600,000 Russians tourists visited the Czech Republic in 2011, a 35% increase on 2010 figures.