Flights to Turkey between waking and sleeping: Rosaviation returned Istanbul flights to Tatarstan
Tatarstan airports started to send Russian tourists to Turkey on Saturday
Rosaviation (the Federal Air Transport Agency) lifted the ban on flights of Russian citizens to Turkey that was imposed after the attempted coup in this country. As a correspondent of Realnoe Vremya managed to find out, the order has not been officially published, Tatarstan airports confirm that they received new instructions from the authority, and citizens of Tatarstan were able to fly to Istanbul from Kazan or Nizhnekamsk on Saturday according to the previous timetable and price. It will change the strange scene at the airports when passengers were allowed to fly selectively.
First plane with Russian tourists flew to Turkey
At night on 22 July, it was known that a long-awaited stabilisation of the situation in Turkey came. Flights of Russian citizens to this country were postponed earlier. Regular flights from Russia to Turkey renewed on 22 July.
'After receiving Turkey's promise to immediately increase safety measures for Russian citizens at the airports and on the territory of the Republic of Turkey, regular flights will return from 22 July 2016 for all airlines that fly from Russia to Turkey, including the carriage of transit passengers via airports of the republic to third countries,' a representative of the organisation told Interfax.
The first flight with Russian tourists after the lifting the ban came quickly. It departed at 8.59 Moscow time on 22 July from Moscow to Antalya. According to the data stated on the official site of the Sheremetyevo Airport, it was a scheduled flight of SU 2142.
'The timetable has not changed'
Despite the absence of this order on the official page of Rosaviation, the Tatarstan airports already know about its existence. Press secretary of Kazan International Airport Adel Gataullin confirmed Realnoe Vremya that the ban on the flight of Russian citizens to Turkey was lifted.
'Yes, we are speaking about lifting the ban. I should note the flights from Russia to Turkey have never stopped. Russian citizens were not allowed to go to Turkey, while planes flew almost every day, foreigners went on flying. 'There are no other changes. Flights are performed according to the timetable – Kazan-Istanbul and Istanbul-Kazan.'
It should be said according to the information on the online display of the Kazan airport, the most proximate plane of Turkish Airlanes to Istanbul was going to fly from the capital of Tatarstan on 23 July on time – at 2.05 a.m. The Russian citizens were also able to go to Turkey from Begishevo at 4.20 a.m. on 23 July flying Atlas Global.
'Yes, flights of Russian citizens to Turkey were allowed on 22 July. There will be scheduled flights. In principle, the flights were not cancelled. Only Turkish and foreign citizens could fly to Turkey. Now the Russian citizens will also be allowed to fly. The timetable has not changed,' the press secretary of Begishevo airport Olga Tyutlina informed Realnoe Vremya.
But we are speaking about only regular flights. Charter flights between Russia and Turkey are sill banned after the incident on 24 November 2015, when the Turkish Armed Forces downed the Russian Su-24 jet.
Citizens of Tatarstan called the police in order to fly to Turkey
Let's remind that Rosaviation stopped flying to Turkey after the attempted coup on 15 July. As Realnoe Vremya had told, citizens of Turkey and other foreigners, transit passengers and Russian citizens who had a residence permit in Turkey could fly to Turkey from Kazan and Nizhnekams without problems. On 18 July, Aeroflot wrote on its Twitter account that the passengers who were going to fly between Turkey and Russia from 16 to 20 July inclusive might return their tickets or change the time without change fees. Earlier Aeroflot cancelled 10 flights from Moscow to Istanbul and Antalya and vice versa on 16 and 17 July. Turkish airlines had similar terms.
The scene at the airports when passengers were allowed to fly selectively looked strange. Some Russian passengers refused to believe in the existing ban that led to the appearance of unpleasant situations. For instance, according to kznlive, on 18 July night, tourists who were going to fly to Turkey from Begishevo were so irritated because they were not allowed to board called police. Moreover, the airport could neither confirm nor disprove this information.
'I've not heard about this situation. But we have an order of Rosaviation, so there is no sense in calling the police,' Olga Tyutlina commented.