In March 2022, Russians can fly only to 15 countries without additional transfers due to sanctions. Russians have access to Turkey, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Morocco, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Sri Lanka. Direct flights to these countries depart not only from Moscow but also from a number of other cities in Russia. Six Russian airlines are flying outside Russia – to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, the UAE, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan with a total frequency of about 250 flights per week.
Kazakhstan
On March 15, one of the largest air carriers of the Republic of Kazakhstan, SCAT Airlines, opened a new route to Alma-Ata. Direct regular flights on the route Moscow (Vnukovo) – Alma-Ata will be carried out twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In the future, it is planned to have these flights daily.
SCAT Airlines has been cooperating with Vnukovo Airport since September 2017. During this period, more than 2,278 flights were served, and 177,783 passengers were transported by SCAT Airlines from the cities of Kazakhstan to Moscow.
Today, SCAT Airlines operates flights to Aktau, Nur-Sultan, and Shymkent. In Nur-Sultan – on Thursdays and Sundays, and from today it is planned to launch additional frequencies – on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with a subsequent increase to daily operation. The airline operates flights to Shymkent on Wednesdays; from March 20, it is already planned to launch an additional frequency on Sundays, and from April, the number of flights is expected to increase to 3 flights a week. To Aktau – on Saturdays, and already from March 16, they plan to launch an additional frequency on Wednesdays.
Armenia
From March 16, Armenia Airways began operating direct flights on the route Yerevan (Zvartnots) – Moscow (Vnukovo) – Yerevan (Zvartnots) on Boeing 737 aircraft four times a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Aeroflot has opened sales of tickets for daily regular flights to Yerevan. Aeroflot flights to Armenia will resume from 22 March 2022 and will be operated on Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft.
Turkey
From March 6, 2022, Turkish Airlines will add one daily flight to Istanbul from Pulkovo Airport. The number of carrier flights per day will increase to three.
From February 28, Turkish Airlines began serving flights on Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft (previously, smaller Airbus A321 flights were operated on the route).
From April 1, 2022, Turkish Airlines will start operating flights to Antalya from Pulkovo Airport.
Turkish Airlines and Air Serbia, are the only airlines that allow passengers to travel on a single ticket between Russia and Europe.
Recently, Turkish Airlines and Air Serbia announced the further enhancement of their commercial cooperation with a codeshare agreement expanding to destinations both from Turkish Airlines’ and Air Serbia’s networks.
Both airlines already codeshare on below flights:
From Belgrade: Banja Luka, Tivat, Ankara.
From Istanbul: Ankara, İzmir, Adana, Antalya, Dalaman, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Konya, Trabzon, Gazipaşa, Bodrum, Odesa, Kyiv, Amman, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Nis, Kraljevo.
Sri Lanka
Starting from 8 April, Aeroflot will resume regular flights to Colombo. Three weekly flights will be operated on Airbus A330 widebody aircraft.
Iran
Aeroflot also resumes regular flights to Tehran, Iran, on Airbus A321 aircraft starting from 2 April.
Kyrgyzstan
Aeroflot resumes regular flights to Bishkek and Osh (Kyrgyzstan). Starting from 14 March, flights to Bishkek and Osh will be operated daily.
The list of apparent enemies of Russia includes all the 27 EU member countries plus Monaco, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and San Marino, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Micronesia.
From the Western Balkans, Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia are included, but not Serbia, an EU candidate country that has refused to enforce sanctions against Russia and continues to nurture friendly ties.
