The Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that international flights with Russia will resume on August 1. From this day, the first international flights will be operated from the airports of Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don.
The Prime Minister added that this will speed up the return of Russians stranded abroad due to the interruption in air traffic caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Air traffic will resume primarily with the United Kingdom, Turkey and Tanzania, the Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said. The operational headquarters for the fight against the coronavirus, which she heads, is working to expand the list of such countries, she said.
So from August 1, it is possible to fly to London. In Turkey, the airports of Ankara and Istanbul will be opened for Russians from August 1. From August 10-resort cities of Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman. Air flights will also be resumed with Tanzania, namely with Zanzibar.
Earlier, officials stressed that Russia will resume passenger air transport only on the principle of reciprocity. Negotiations on this issue started on July 10.
The government suspended international scheduled and charter flights on March 27. Since then, only export flights have been carried out, organized by agencies to return Russians stranded abroad to the country, private flights and flights for the import of foreign specialists into the country.
On July 14, the Association of tour operators of Russia said that eight countries at that time were ready to start accepting Russian tourists "even tomorrow". They are Turkey, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Maldives, Croatia, Egypt and the UAE.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Bilal EL-Daou / Pixabay
Based on materials from Interfax