Russia lifts ban on charter flights to Turkey

Russia: Russia has lifted its ban on charter flights to Turkey, announced the government website on Sunday. Russia had banned charter flights to Turkey, after the Turkish military shot down down a Russian Su-24 air force jet near the border with Syria, in November 2015 killing two pilots.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the decree changing the laws surrounding chartered air transportation between Russia and Turkey on Sunday.

According to the Transport Ministry website, Russia Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said,

“Airline carries have started submitting requests to Rosaviatsiya (the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency) for carrying out on-demand operations to the Turkish Republic. Thus, Russian air authorities are ready to provide necessary conditions for charter flights to Turkey, including issuing all relevant permissions,”

Russia’s decision has been welcomed by Turkish tourism representatives. According to Anadolu Agency, spokesperson for the Tour Operators Platform Cem Polatoglu said; 

“With a number of steps taken by the Turkish and Russian leaders, we have started to see the inflow in Russian arrivals, although the [high] season is about to end. As the charter flights have not resumed yet, the arrivals are still in low figures. Around 200,000 Russian tourists are estimated to have visited Turkey through the scheduled flights, which had already resumed… This figure may reach 700,000 after the charter flights restart,”