Flydubai announces additional flights to Russia

Dubai-carrier flydubai announced on Tuesday the launch of additional routes to Russia.

The airline will grow its network in Russia to 11 destinations with the introduction of new services to Moscow Zhukovski International Airport (ZIA) from May 12, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo International Airport (OVB) from May 28 and Perm International Airport (PEE) from June 2, while resuming operations to four more points in the market in May.

“It is now 11 years since flydubai’s first flight to Russia. During this period, we have grown our network in Russia providing direct air links from these key cities in Russia to the UAE; many of which are less than four hours flying time. We’ve made Dubai much more accessible and at the same time improved connectivity to more than 155 destinations from Dubai’s international aviation hub,” said Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO at flydubai.

The addition of the flights brings the carrier’s network to over than 80 destinations.

Apart from the additional Russian flights, flydubai also announced the resumption of flights to Bandar Abbas International Airport (BND) from May 12 and Mashhad International Airport (MHD) from May 13, growing its operations in Iran to five points including Larr (LRR), Shiraz (SYZ) and Tehran (IKA).

Flydubai recently announced that it will be operating seasonal flights to Bodrum (BJV) and Trabzon(TZX) in Turkey as well as Batumi (BUS) in Georgia. It currently operates to Tbilisi International Airport (TBS) in Georgia, but will also operate a three times weekly service to Batumi, starting from May 12 until September 1.

Flights to Bodrum will operate twice a week from June 4 until September 1. Meanwhile, Trabzon, a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey, will be served with three weekly flights from May 13 until September 1.

Meanwhile, the carrier is also set to restart its seasonal operations to Tivat International Airport (TIV) in Montenegro from June 25.

Earlier this month, flydubai reported a loss of Dhs712.6m ($194m) for the period ending December 31, 2020. The carrier also reported total annual revenue of Dhs2.8bn ($773m) for 2020, down 52.7 per cent compared to Dhs6bn ($1.6bn) in 2019.

Read: UAE’s flydubai reports loss of $194m for 2020