Flights Between Russia and Turkey Resume! According to the latest breaking news, air services with Russia have resumed. The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adil Karaismailoğlu, announced that as of today Turkey and Russia have agreed to restart flights. This development is very important for the tourism sector. Russia currently ranks fourth worldwide in reported COVID-19 cases.
Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu stated that international flights with the Russian Federation have been agreed to resume as of today. After international flights were suspended as part of COVID-19 measures, Karaismailoğlu noted that international routes to various countries began reopening on June 11. From June 11, services were restarted with 31 countries. In his announcement, the minister confirmed that an agreement has been reached to resume flights with Russia as of today.
Turkey Expands Flight Network to 32 Countries
Turkey has expanded its international flight network to 32 countries. Following the June 11, 2020 reopening of international routes with 31 countries, negotiations continued to restore reciprocal services with an additional 20 countries. With the inclusion of Russia, the number of countries with resumed international services has increased to 32. Meanwhile, a formal agreement between Turkey and the Russian Federation has been finalized. Under that agreement, Turkish carriers were authorized in 2019 to operate to 18 Russian destinations with a total of 253 weekly frequencies, while Russian carriers were permitted to serve 7 points across Turkey with 127 weekly frequencies.
In 2019 tourism statistics, the Russian Federation ranked first in terms of visitors to Turkey, with 7,017,657 arrivals. The restart of flights is expected to produce a significant improvement in the number of visitors arriving in Turkey. Russia has reported 746,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 11,770 deaths attributed to the virus; by case count, Russia ranks as the fourth most affected country globally.