The ban does not
refer to cargo, postal, sanitary and humanitarian shipment.
MOSCOW, March 27.
/TASS/. Russia has fully suspended regular and charter international flights
since Friday and airlines will only perform flights to bring Russians back
home, according to a decision announced by the board of the government’s
coordination council.
The move comes amid
the novel coronavirus pandemic declared by the World Health Organization and
its rapid spread in 170 countries in the world, including Russia.
A spokesperson for
the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency noted that the ban on performing
flights from Russia overseas did not refer to cargo, postal, sanitary and
humanitarian shipment.
Russia started
suspending international flights since February 1. The restrictions were
introduced in several stages. At first flights were limited to China, South
Korea and a number of other countries, and then to Spain, Italy, Germany and
France. In a few days, flights to entire Europe were banned. The most massive ban
on flights was announced on March 23, targeting 95 countries. In all cases,
flights were allowed only from Terminal F of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport to
the capitals of the closed countries.
Until recently,
Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot continued regular flights to several
capitals. Earlier, Aeroflot told TASS that the restrictions concerned 92 out of
94 international routes of the airline. Aeroflot evacuated more than 52,000
people on March 14-25 to Russia.
Russia’s second
largest airline S7 earlier fully halted its international flights but it still
continues flights to evacuate citizens. Russia’s airlines Pobeda and Utair have
fully stopped international flights. The country’s major charter airline Azur
Air earlier reported that it would stop sending Russian tourists overseas from
March 22 until April 20.
Source: ITAR-TASS
27-03-2020
