Cancun, Q.R. — According to Vestnik ATOR, export flights from Moscow to Caribbean countries will not be canceled. In a press release, the agency said “the closure of airspace by the United States will not lead to the cancellation of export flights from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela.”
They say that “all export flights from Caribbean countries will be operated. We are flying over neutral waters,” said Anna Podgornaya, General Director of PEGAS Touristik.
According to the online flight board of Sheremetyevo Airport, Nordwind flight N4 353 to Varadero departed at 10.46 Moscow time.
Today, a Royal Flight airline (a partner of the tour operator Coral Travel ) will depart for tourists from Moscow to Punta Cana. The press service of the carrier said that their route will also pass over neutral waters and, in comparison with the pre-crisis route, the travel time will increase by about 3 hours, increasing the fly time to around 14 hours.
On March 3, Royal Flight is planning an export flight from the Cuban resort of Varadero.
The press service of AZUR air (a partner of the tour operator ANEX Tour) said that export flights to Caribbean destinations are preparing for departure in accordance with the schedule.
On March 2, flight ZF 111 is scheduled to Cancun. On March 3, flight ZF 977 to La Romana (Dominican Republic) and flight ZF 557 to Varadero are also scheduled.
An Aeroflot flight SU158 departed from Sheremetyevo at 8:40 a.m. to Cancun according to plan. According to the route map, the liner does not fly over the territory of the countries of Northern Europe, the USA and Canada. Instead, the trajectory passes over the northern regions of the Russian Federation and further over neutral waters in the Atlantic.
Tourism market experts are in a hurry to reassure Russian tourists who are now in Caribbean resorts. Even if something happens to the flight across the Atlantic from the North, they will still be taken out “from the other side,” the agecny reported saying “there are alternative routes.”
“Export flights can also be operated with intermediate stops in countries that did not close the air to Russia, for example, across the Atlantic to Morocco, then along the coast of North Africa to Egypt and then through Turkey and Kazakhstan to Russia.
“In this case, the likely refueling will be done in Morocco. A very long option is also possible – through Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and the Far East,” explained Philip Obruchev-Mironov, head of the commercial division of the Intourist tour operator.
In particular, this option was previously considered by Royal Flight, but then decided to fly traditionally, flying over Europe from the North.
The expert emphasized that the described options are still purely virtual and could be used in some very extreme cases. In the meantime, Russian aircraft can fly across the neutral waters of the Atlantic, overflying Scandinavia from the North.
