Ikar to resume charter flights from Sakhalin to Thailand

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. April 25 (Interfax) - Charter flights from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Thailand will resume after a four-year break, the press service of the Ministry of Transport of the Sakhalin Region said.

"After a four-year break, flights under the charter program of tour operator Pegas Touristik together with the Ikar airline to the Kingdom of Thailand are resuming starting April 26, 2024. Flights EO 3629/3630 will be operated on the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - Phuket - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk route," the statement says.

The flight program is being implemented from April 26 to October 19 with a frequency of once every two weeks on a Boeing 777 aircraft, the press service said. The length of the route is over 6,000 km, and travel time will be about 8 hours. Therefore, 14 departure flights and 13 arrival flights are planned.

Customs officers are preparing for the opening in mid-May of this year of the second regular flight from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to China, this time to Beijing, the press service of Sakhalin customs said.

Regular flights from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Harbin, China resumed in the summer of 2023 after a three-year break. "In the first quarter of this year, almost 2,000 passengers crossed the border of the Sakhalin region on this line bound for Harbin and back," the press service said.

Last year, passenger traffic from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Harbin and back reached nearly 4,700 people. Flights to Harbin are operated twice a week, and once per week in winter.

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport served 293,100 passengers in the first quarter of 2024, which is 7.4% more than the same period last year; international flights were operated only to Harbin.

The airport is the base airport for Aurora airlines and belongs to the Ministry of Property of the region. The airport served over 1.4 million people in 2023, a 12% increase over the year before. The airport serves eight airlines, who operate flights to 13 Russian cities and 8 settlements within the Sakhalin region.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk airport operated flights to six cities in the Asia-Pacific region (including charter tourist flights), with an average annual total passenger flow on international flights of more than 100,000 people.