Russia, Israel agree flights of Russian airlines from Zhukovsky airport to Tel Aviv - transport minister

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. Russia and Israel have agreed flights of Russian airlines Ural Airlines and Ikar from Zhukovsky airport in the Moscow Region to Tel Aviv, Russia’s Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov told TASS, adding that the flights are planned for the summer season of 2017. "Two Russian air carriers - Ural Airlines and Ikar - plan flights from Zhukovsky to Tel Aviv during IATA’s (International Air Transport Association) summer-2017 season (the shift to the summer schedule is in end-March - TASS). As of now it has been agreed with Israel’s aviation authorities that those carriers will be granted permits to perform flights in accordance with submitted applications," the Minister said. According to Sokolov, Israeli airlines have no plans to fly from Tel Aviv to Zhukovsky. "Israeli air carriers have not manifested a desire to fly to Zhukovsky from Tel Aviv," he said. Earlier a source in Russia’s Transport Ministry told TASS that Israeli aviation authorities had agreed charter flights performed by Russian air carriers from Zhukovksy to Tel Aviv. He added that the flights may be launched in end-March 2017. As reported earlier Israel had not approved the flights of Ural Airlines from Zhukovsky airport to Tel Aviv, although tickets for these flights were already on sale. The reason for that was the excess of quotas set in the intergovernmental agreement - 35 frequencies a week to Moscow. According to sources of Kommersant, the refusal was caused by the dispute over the airport’s status. According to the Israeli side, the airport belongs to the Moscow aviation hub. Zhukovsky international airport was officially opened in the spring of 2016. UVT-Aero airline performed the first flight from the airport to Kazan on November 1, 2016. Zhukovsky Airport is operated by Ramport Aero (75% is held by Lithuania’s Avia Solutions Group, 25% is controlled by Russia’s state corporation Rostec). Read more