Due to restrictions imposed on Russia by EU countries, the UK, the US and other states, Russian airlines have been forced to reorganize. Aeroflot, Russia’s national airline, has decided to expand its operations at Sochi airport.
Aeroflot will fly to Armenia, Egypt, Israel, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. The flights will be operated by Rossiya Russian Airlines, part of Aeroflot Group, with Sukhoi Superjet 100. Sukhoi Superjet 100 offers 87 seats (12 in business class, 75 in economy class).
According to One Mile at the Time, the flights will be operated by Rossiya Airlines, which is a subsidiary of Aeroflot. Rossiya will be using Russian-built Sukhoi Superjet 100s for these flights, with 10 of these planes expected to be based at the airport. All of these planes used to fly for Aeroflot, but were transferred over to the carrier’s subsidiary as part of a transformation plan initially announced in 2020.
The Sukhoi Superjets are built in Russia and aren’t owned by foreign leasing companies. One of the main challenges is that the Sukhoi Superjet has a range of just ~1,800 miles. Most of the airspace open to Russia is to the south of the country, which is one of the reasons why Sochi was chosen as an international hub. The aircraft can operate to most destinations within its range. Cairo, for instance, is roughly 1,030 miles away, while Moscow to Cairo is more than 1,800 miles away.
Aeroflot will offer these destinations as well as flights from Moscow Sheremetyevo, St. Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk. According to the schedule, flights from Sochi airport will be operated as follows:
- Kazakhstan: Almaty – from April 8 and Nur-Sultan from April 7 every day, Aktau from April 8 and Aktobe from April 7 three times a week, Atyrau twice a week from April 9.
- Turkey: Istanbul: 19 flights a week from 7 April, Antalya twice a day from 7 April, Bodrum three times a week and Dalaman twice a week from 22 April
- Uzbekistan: Tashkent – daily from April 8, Samarkand four times a week from April 8, Bukhara and Fergana three times a week from April 7, Urgench twice a week from April 8.
- Armenia: Yerevan – daily from 8 April
- Egypt: Cairo – daily since April 7
- Israel: Tel Aviv – daily from 7 April
