Russia’s Ural Airlines will start direct flights to Delhi next week, as it seeks to benefit from a spurt in business travel and tourism between the two countries.
The flights will operate from Ural Airlines’ base, Koltsovo Airport in Ekaterinburg, to New Delhi three days a week, on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, the airline told RT India.
“The decision to launch regular flights was driven by both commercial and strategic reasons,” the airline said, citing strong demand and the availability of a suitable fleet of Airbus aircraft.
Ekaterinburg is the largest transport and industrial hub in the Urals. Direct flights from the city will significantly slash travel time from the Urals and Siberia.
Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov recently said the number of airline services to India a week could soon jump nearly fivefold to 71 from the current 15.
“Siberian Airlines (S7) and Ural Airlines are actively working on the possibility of launching regular flights to Delhi from Novosibirsk and Ekaterinburg,” Alipov told RT.“We are awaiting a response from our Indian partners,” the ambassador said.
S7 Airlines also told RT it is planning to launch a service between Novosibirsk and Delhi during the autumn-winter schedule. Tolmachevo Airport in Novosibirsk is a key hub for S7.
Officials in Tatarstan also previously indicated they are in talks with the East-West Group and Russian authorities about launching direct flights to India, including to its financial hub, Mumbai.
India and Russia are similarly boosting ties in the civil aviation sector. Two Indian domestic airlines have signed agreements on buying 85 Russian passenger aircraft, as Moscow and New Delhi move to expand cooperation in civil aviation and manufacturing.
The new services come amid an expected surge in activity in various sectors including tourism, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food processing, information technology, engineering, and transport and logistics. India and Russia expect bilateral trade to hit $100 billion by 2030.
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