Russian airlines received admissions for regular flights to 15 countries. The relevant data follows from the order of the Federal Air Transport Agency, published on the agency’s website on Wednesday, April 21.
It is noted that the countries included Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Jordan, China, North Macedonia, Moldova, Morocco, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand, Croatia, Montenegro, as well as Cyprus and the Maldives.
Thus, the airlines of the Aeroflot group received permits for regular flights to Cyprus with a frequency of flights up to seven times a week. The carrier will be able to fly to Paphos and Larnaca from 11 Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, Kazan and Tyumen.
Rossiya Airlines will be able to fly to the same Cypriot cities from Barnaul, Samara, Ufa and 14 more cities in Russia. At the same time, it is noted that “Russia” received admission to flights to Male (Maldives) from St. Petersburg up to five times a week.
Aircraft of the Pobeda airline will be able to fly to Larnaca from Chelyabinsk, Kazan, Perm and Yekaterinburg. In addition, the carrier is also admitted to Gyumri (Armenia) from Mineralnye Vody, Sochi and Krasnodar. The frequency of flights is up to seven times a week.
Ural Airlines, Siberia, Red Wings, Azur Air, Ikar and Nordwind will also be able to fly to Cyprus.
It is specified that Ural Airlines also received admission to flights up to three times a week to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Jordan. The carrier will be able to fly to Baku from Voronezh, Omsk and Irkutsk, while to Yerevan it will be able to fly from 14 Russian cities. In addition, he is allowed to fly to Gyumri from Voronezh and Volgograd, as well as to Aqaba (Jordan) from St. Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg and Zhukovsky.
Nordwind Airlines was allowed to fly up to seven times a week to Sanya (China) from Samara, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Orenburg. Also, the carrier will be able to fly to Macedonian Skopje from Moscow, Chisinau from Sochi, Kaliningrad, Mineralnye Vody and Rostov-on-Don.
In addition, Nordwind will be able to fly to Belgrade from St. Petersburg up to seven times a week and Thailand – from Vladivostok to Utapao.
Earlier that day, during the announcement of a message to the Federal Assembly, Russian leader Vladimir Putin proposed extending the tourist cashback program until the end of 2021. He also considered that it is important in the country to provide affordable recreation for children and create opportunities for student tourism. In turn, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia supported this proposal of the President.
On April 15, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, said that foreign trips at the moment carry great risks due to the deterioration of the epidemiological situation in the world due to COVID-19.
Back in November 2020, against the backdrop of a coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Air Transport Agency emphasized that the decision to issue permits to airlines for international flights is not a decision to resume flights on international routes specified in the order. Clearance is the airline’s right that it can use when resuming flights.
Russia suspended regular and charter flights in March 2020 due to the situation with coronavirus infection in the world. Then, gradually, restrictions on air traffic with a number of states were lifted.