Russia-Turkey Flights "Halved" Over Jet Crisis: Tourism Official

Scheduled flights between Russia and Turkey as well as the number of passengers halved after the "jet downing crisis", SKY Tourism Company's official Faruk Yılmaz said. Turkish F-16s has drowned a Russian war craft due to border breach and has tightened relations between Moscow and Ankara.

Turkish Airlines' daily flights to Moscow dropped from four to three flights a week, while Russian Aeroflot Airlines decreased its daily flights from four to two, Faruk Yılmaz told Dogan News Agency.

Aeroflot Airlines has halted its Moscow-Ankara flights and dropped its daily Moscow- Antalya flights to one flight.

Turkish Airlines holds 21 flights a week to Moscow from Istanbul Ataturk Airport while Russian Aeroflot Airlines organizes 14 flights and Pegasus Airlines organizes seven flights a week from Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul.

Turkish Airlines also land its planes to Katarinburg, Kazan, Rostov, Saint Petersburg, Ufa, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, and Astrakhan, despite Moscow. Pegasus reaches Krasnodar and Yekaterinburg cities in Russia as well.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines aims to boost flights during summer season and increase number of Moscow-Istanbul flights from 21 to 28 and organize two flights between Antalya and Moscow, said Faruk Yılmaz. - Istanbul