As of June, 2012, S7 airlines started once a week flights from Moscow (Domodedovo airport) to Genoa (Italy). The Greek Airline Blue Bird Airways resumed regular flights from Moscow to Kerkira (Rhodes) and Iraklion (Crete) on a twice a week frequency. The Spanish carrier Air Europa launched summer charter flights from Chelyabinsk (Ural region of Russia), to Barcelona. In May, the Russian Airline Yamal started direct flights to Gothenburg (Sweden) from Moscow on a three times per week frequency. Based on this new flight, several Russian tour operators now starting to offer a city break tour to Gothenburg. Sweden from its side is trying to make the country more accessible for Russian by opening up 14 new visa centers across Russia by the end of 2012.
From the end of June, Transaero will start regular flights from Moscow to Italy, including daily flights to Rome, twice weekly flights to Venice and from September, 4 flights a week to Milan. They will also run flights from St- Petersburg to Milan and Rome (2 and then 3 times a week respectively). This will make Transaero the 3rd carrier to Italy, in addition to Aeroflot and Alitalia, creating more competition and better pricing policy.
In May,the global airline alliance SkyTeam launched its new Go Russia Pass which offers greater flexibility and cost savings on flights operated by Aeroflot within Russia. The ‘Go Russia Pass’ is available to passengers traveling on flights originating outside Russia with any of Sky Team's 15 member airlines. Customers purchasing a Go Russia Pass can opt for discounts of up to 20% off standard fares, depending on the itinerary.
As of June, the national carrier of Kazakhstan, Air Astana started a new direct flight from Almaty to the Russian city of Kazan. The service will operate 3 times a week and will be Air Astana’s 7th destination in Russia, with existing flights from Almaty to Moscow, St-Petersburg and Samara, as well as those operating from Astana, to Moscow, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg. Passengers travelling from Kazan will be able to connect to Air Astana services from Almaty to Bangkok, Delhi, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.