All international travel restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak have been lifted by the Russian government.
The decision was announced by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on April 4 as part of Russia’s “anti-crisis efforts.”
“The number of cases is going down, which means, it is time to increase the number of destinations that are available for our Russian airlines,” Mishustin is quoted by Russian press agency Interfax. “Now they can fly to 15 countries without restrictions, including the states of EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union – AeroTime), Qatar, Mexico, and some others.”
“And now we will renew the connections to 52 countries, including Argentina, India, China, SAR and other countries that are friendly to us,” Mishustin added.
Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Myanmar, Oman, and others are among the countries on the list. The list also includes the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Numerous countries implemented sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which had a significant impact on Russian aviation. The number of nations to which Russian airlines traveled had decreased to less than ten by mid-March.
Russian airlines are unlikely to be able to travel to all 52 nations on the list, as their fleet has been reduced to largely medium-range Sukhoi SSJ-100s, as well as a few Airbus and Boeing jets.
The rest of the planes, including practically all of Russia’s wide-body long-range planes, are unable to fly abroad due to the risk of being seized by their lessors.
