Русский
The new spring 2024 schedule for Russian airlines flight schedules includes the opening of new foreign destinations and the resumption of previously existing, but mothballed routes. Details are as follows:
Russia-China
Yakutia Airlines are to begin operating direct regular flights on the Yekaterinburg-Beijing route from April 4, with departures three times a week on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on Airbus A319 aircraft. The cost of a one-way ticket will be from ₽29,000. Passengers arrive at the new Daxing Airport, which is connected to Beijing CBD by trains and taxis.
From mid-May, Ural Airlines plans to resume flights from Yekaterinburg to Harbin.
Russia-Macau
Aeroflot will receive clearance to fly to Macau from March 31. Flights were previously belonged to Royal Flight, which ceased operations after the introduction of sanctions against Russia in 2022. Macau is a leading casino and tourism hub near to Hong Kong.
Russia-Mongolia
KrasAvia has started flights from Krasnoyarsk to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia’s capital city. KrasAvia has opened the sale of air tickets for flights from Krasnoyarsk to Ulaanbaatar and back in the summer schedule, which will be valid from March 31 to October 26, 2024. Flights will be operated departing Krasnoyarsk at 23:55 on Wednesdays, with arrival at UB at 04:15, the travel time is 3 hours 20 minutes. Departure from Ulaanbaatar is at 05:25 on Thursdays, with arrival back at Krasnoyarsk at 08:10.
The flights will be served by ATR-42 aircraft. The cost of a ticket for the Standard fare (one piece of luggage up to 10 kg + 5 kg hand luggage) will be from ₽12,375, and for the Optimum fare (one piece of luggage up to 23 kg + 5 kg hand luggage) from ₽16,830. Online check-in is provided with the choice of a seat in the cabin, as well as the ordering of additional services: meals from the menu, insurance, reservation of excess baggage and special types of transportation (unaccompanied children, animals, sports equipment, musical instruments).
Russia-Kazakhstan
Yakutia Airlines has opened a new route between Irkutsk and Almaty, with the route priced from ₽14,260.
Sochi is also developing as a Russian regional hub for Central Asia and the Middle East. The following flights are being offered by Ural Airlines and operated on medium-haul Airbus A320 aircraft with 162 passenger seats.
Russia-Uzbekistan
Sochi – Tashkent, departure from April 1 on Mondays at 17:55 and on Thursdays at 17:30. The travel time is 3 hours 40 minutes.
Sochi – Namangan, departure from April 6 on Saturdays at 21:00, the travel time is 3 hours 30 minutes.
Uzbekistan Airways also operates flights on the Sochi-Tashkent route six days a week, and on the Sochi-Namangan route twice a week.
Russia-Kyrgyzstan
Sochi – Bishkek, flights resume from May 25 on Saturdays, departure at 06:00, the travel time is 3 hours 55 minutes.
Pobeda Airlines will also now fly from Moscow to Osh. Flights will start on April 26 and will operate daily.
Russia-Dubai
Sochi-Dubai, flights commence from April 6 to May 18 and from September 28 to October 26, departure on Saturdays at 03:30, the travel time is 4 hours 05 minutes.
Flydubai, Red Wings, Rossiya and Azimut also all fly to Dubai from Sochi.
Russia-Izmir
Rossiya will commence flights from St. Petersburg to Izmir, in Turkiye, from April.
Russia-Philippines
IrAero Airlines began operating flights on the Irkutsk – Manila route from March 6. The departure from Irkutsk is every Wednesday at 22:00, from Manila every Thursday at 07:25. The flight time is 8 hours 20 minutes. Superjet 100 aircraft are used with a refuelling stopover in Shijiazhuang (China) without disembarking passengers.
IrAero became the first airline in Russia to launch direct flights to the Philippines after a long break. Irkutsk meanwhile is developing as a Russian regional aviation hub – it is now possible to fly from Irkutsk to 20 other international destinations, with the most popular routes being Bangkok, Osh, Phuket, Bishkek and Tashkent. Irkutsk airport has handled more than 137,000 passenger departures since the beginning of the year.
Russia-Tunisia
Aeroflot will start flights to Tunisa as of March 31, and will offer flights to Djerba and Enfidha.
Other Routes
Additional routes have also been opened to Georgia, Belarus, and Vietnam.
More Aircraft
While Russia’s air carriers are improving their flight programmes, the government is discussing the allocation of another tranche from the Russian National Welfare Fund to buy more aircraft and expand the international flight schedule.
The Russian Ministry of Transport proposed that the government allocate another ₽295 billion (US$3.2 billion) to re-register foreign aircraft as Russian property. Funds are mainly requested for Aeroflot based on the potential acquisition of about 90 aircraft. The extension of government funding can help minimize legal risks when flying abroad and reduce the foreign currency debt burden of carriers.
In 2023, the government allocated almost ₽297 billion (US$3.4 billion) from the National Welfare Fund, which made it possible to buy out 162 aircraft from Aeroflot, S7, Ural Airlines and Aurora. That was over 30% of the fleet owned by foreign lessors. The NWF funds were allocated to the National Logistics Company (NLC) at 1.5% for 15 years. Aeroflot received aircraft on an operating lease, while private airlines received a financial lease.
Since December 2022, Aeroflot Group has re-registered 93 aircraft using funds from the National Welfare Fund. Also, in the spring of 2022, the airline purchased eight more Airbus A330s, which were under financial leasing, with its own funds. In addition, in 2023, the group’s fleet was replenished with one Boeing 737-800 from the suspended Royal Flight, as well as two aircraft of the State Transport Leasing Company.
In total, Aeroflot has a fleet of 349 aircraft, including 78 SSJ-100 of Rossiya Airlines. Of the 271 foreign aircraft, 185 were removed from the foreign register: 102 aircraft of foreign owners re-registered in 2022–2023 and 83 aircraft of Russian lessors. Thus, the group could potentially re-register another 86 foreign aircraft to the Russian lessor.
In addition to Aeroflot, in 2023 co-financing from the National Wealth Fund was provided by S7 Airlines (45 aircraft), Ural Airlines (19 aircraft) and Aurora Airlines (8 aircraft).
Taking into account aircraft purchased from financial leasing and individual transactions paid for with their own funds, Russian airlines re-registered more than 170 aircraft out of approximately 400 owned by foreign lessors. For now, the carrying capacity is sufficient to meet demand on foreign routes, but over time the Russian airlines fleet will decrease. In addition, the repurchase reduces legal risks and helps prevent claims and seizures of aircraft. According to Aeroflot, insurance settlement transactions made it possible to reduce the share of foreign currency leasing obligations in Russia from more than 90% of the total to 60% in early 2024. As we pointed out here Russian tourism hit a record high in 2023 and is set to grow at just under 10% per annum to 2032.
