New airline routes for 2008 in Russia and Ukraine

Austrian expands Russian route network

The Austrian Airlines Group continues to develop and expand its route network in Russia. From the beginning of the 2008 summer schedule onwards, three flights a week will operate to two new destinations in the Austrian schedule, the cities of Sochi and Nizhniy Novgorod. Fokker 70 aircraft will be used for both routes. Traffic to Sochi begins on 1 April, with the first flight to Nizhniy Novgorod departing the following day (2 April). Austrian already flies to five Russian destinations in the cities of Rostov, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar. By incorporating flights to Sochi and Nizhniy Novgorod into its schedule, the Austrian Airlines Group is consolidating its position as the world’s second-largest airline in terms of the number of Russian destinations served.

Austrian Chief Executive Officer, Alfred Ötsch, made the following statement about the two new destinations: “As part of the highly-successful Focus East strategy of the Austrian Airlines Group, we are expanding our Russian route network to seven destinations this year. Businesspeople both at home and abroad value our commitment to Russia enormously; the seven destinations we now serve are attractive metropolises in the country, and all demonstrate a highly dynamic economic growth.”

Turkish Airlines to fly to 11 new destinations in 2008

Turkish Airlines (THY) will increase the number of its international flight destinations to 118, adding 11 new destinations for 2008. Among THY’s new direct flights to long-haul destinations in 2008 are Atyrau (Kazakhstan), Lvov (Ukraine) and Ufa (Russia).