Russia, Turkey agree to increase number of flights to Turkey by both countries' airlines

ANKARA. May 19 (Interfax) - The Russian and Turkish authorities have agreed to increase the number of passenger flights to Turkey by both countries' airlines, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on TV channel Rossiya 24 following a visit to Turkey.

The development of tourism was on the agenda of Novak's meeting with Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay and Trade Minister Mehmet Mus, who co-chairs the Russian-Turkish intergovernmental commission.

"We talked in great detail about this today with Turkey's trade minister and with Turkey's vice president, about the development of tourism in Turkey. Last year the number of tourists from the RF in Turkey totaled 4.7 million people. This year, in order to maintain this number or even increase it we talked about the need to provide transport services. An agreement was reached to increase the number of flights, both by Turkish airlines and our companies," Novak said.

Federal Tourism Agency head Zarina Doguzova said on Wednesday that, through the joint efforts of her agency and the Transport Ministry, 450 additional charter flights per week to Turkey have been approved for the period to July 1.

"We are working with the Transport Ministry on expanding air services with friendly countries. For the May holidays, 290 flights went to Turkey each week. Last week another more than 450 flights per week to Turkey were approved to July 1. This is very important for businesses to be able to meet obligations to tourists," Doguzova said.

Due to sanctions, travel companies' debts to tourists on foreign destination have soared to 490 billion rubles after dropping to 5 billion rubles by the start of 2022 as the industry recovered from the impact of the pandemic, she said.