Turkey’s Southwind Airlines, which has been banned by the European Union from using its airspace, plans to expand its flight campaign to Russia from the resort of Antalya in the 2024 summer season. This is reported by the industry publication HavaSosyalMedya.
In particular, a wide-body B777-300ER with a capacity of 530 passengers will operate two daily flights from Moscow. Another 550-seat B777-300 will operate 11 flights a week from the Russian capital. This type of aircraft will also operate 10 flights a week from Ekaterinburg and St Petersburg to Antalya.
The 353-seat A330-200 aircraft will serve Russia’s regional centres. Seven flights a week to Antalya from Kazan, three flights a week from Krasnoyarsk and four flights a week from Novosibirsk are planned for the summer.
Southwind Airlines fell foul of European officials at the end of March over suspicions that it was owned by Russian nationals. Finnish aviation regulator Traficom said that a significant part of the Turkish tourist airline’s ownership was not in Turkey and that the real control over it was exercised by “Russian actors”.
On 28 March, the European Commission announced that Cortex Havacilik Ve Turizm Ticare – the official name of Southwind Airlines – was subject to a ban on take-offs, overflights and landings under Article 3d of Regulation No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014. It regulates the sanctions imposed as a result of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. The measure entered into force on 29 March.
