(MENAFN- Bangladesh Monitor) Russian flag carrier Aeroflot has increased the frequency of its flight services on the Delhi-Moscow route to seven times a week against four weekly services earlier, from March 26, a statement said on Monday (March 27).
In addition, the airline has also started operating a Boeing 777 jet along with Airbus A330 to cater to passenger traffic between the two capital cities, Delmos Aviation, which handles cargo operations for Aeroflot in India, said in the statement.
India and Russia“in principle” agreed to revise their bilateral air services agreement earlier this month, allowing Russian carriers to operate up to 64 flights per week from 52 to India. Russian carriers are allowed to operate these flights to six Indian cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Amritsar and Ahmedabad.
Aeroflot boosts flight frequency on the Delhi-Moscow route
Aeroflot has commenced daily flight services on the Delhi-Moscow route from March 26. The airline will operate both Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 with a total seating capacity of 410 and 293, respectively, in three class configurations – business, premium economy and economy, as per the statement.
In the just-concluded winter season, the airline operated only four weekly flights on the route, it noted. According to the statement, regular flight services are crucial not only in terms of passenger movement but also from the cargo service point of view.
“This increase in frequency was long overdue as the number of passengers has increased in good measure,” said Naveen Rao, Director of Delmos Aviation.
“These daily flights will give a boost to tourism as well as the cargo supply chain. Due to increasing trade between the two countries, the Moscow-Delhi route is one of the long-established and high-demand routes...In addition, the cargo supply chain will be more effective,” said Oleg Korolev, head of cargo at Aeroflot.
There is a high demand for the shipments of pharmaceuticals, DG (dangerous goods) and machine tools, among others.“With a cargo capacity of approximately 25 tonnes per flight, we are open to accepting all special commodities, including DG shipments,” according to Anish Khatri, GM for Delmos Aviation – GSSA Cargo Aeroflot Airlines.
Air India can, however, continue to overfly Russian airspace under the renewed insurance contracts. Due to this clause, the last Delhi-Moscow-Delhi flight was operated on March 31, 2022, and the plan to introduce Mumbai-Moscow was shelved for now.
Aeroflot, which also had a twice-weekly to Delhi, had early last year temporarily stopped all international flights last month due to concerns that its planes may be seized by lessors.
Due to western sanctions on Russia following the Ukraine war, no Indian carrier is flying to the country and Air India stopped due to insurance issues. Russian carrier Aeroflot will operate a daily flight between Delhi and Moscow this summer, up from four times weekly in winter. It operates thrice weekly between Moscow and Goa.
India is among the few key markets that Aeroflot currently flies to. Air India's North American flights still overfly Russia - taking the shortest routes to and from the west.
-B