Aviation News

More Flight to the Baltic States

As of September 2009, Air Baltic will start direct flights from Riga to Pskov (NW Russia), and since July 2009, Estonian Air started flights from Tallinn to St-Petersburg.

 

New Flights to Hong Kong and China

From September 16, 2009 Vladivostok Avia, the leading flight carrier for the Russian Far East, will start new flights from Vladivostok and Khabarovsk to Hong Kong through Seoul, due to a code share with Asiana Airlines. Hong Kong is now visa-free for Russians since earlier this year.

Yekaterinburg's leading carrier Ural Airlines will launch a second direct flight to Beijing after signing an agreement with China Airlines. The Chinese Consulate in Yekaterinburg will start to issues visas on the spot, which will make China an attractive leisure destination for the Urals region of Russia.

 

Sky Express Launches Charters for Independent Russian Travelllers

Sky Express, a new generation Russian airline, started daily charter to Istanbul this summer. The aim of the new service is to attract FIT passengers who book online to travel independently without having to buy a package from a tour operator. This is a new trend in the Russian market, but one that is likely to gain popularity with seasoned travelers to familiar destinations. Sky Express also organized charters to Spain and Greece this summer.

 

Russian Air Traffic Down by 18% in 2009

According to the Federal Aviation Agency, Russia's airline industry lost nearly one fifth of its passenger traffic during the first half of 2009. Russian airlines carried 18.75 million passengers, down 18% compared with 2008. Aeroflot, the largest Russian airline, saw a drop of 12$% in passenger numbers. However, in June, Russian airlines carried 4.6 million passengers, only 13% less than in 2008. Nevertheless, as the summer approached number started to increase and the top 5 airlines (Aeroflot, Transaero, S7, Rossiya and Utair) carried 10 million passengers by June.