Chartered flights from Russia will start arriving in the capital from the middle of November, ending a two-year drought of such flights to the State.
The flights to be operated by Yakutia Airlines based in Yakutsk using Boeing 737 aircraft are expected to continue till April.
The chartered flight operations are being taken up by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Destination Routes with the support of Kerala Tourism. D.R Tours based in Russia will market the destination and tourism products in Russia.
The decision to operate chartered flights from Russia to Thiruvananthapuram on a fortnightly basis has brought cheer to the travel trade and hospitality industry.
The first stopover of the chartered tourists is Kovalam. Hotels and resorts at the beach resort will benefit as the Russians will stay here and move around for day tours and sightseeing.
“We are happy to bring back chartered flights to Kerala after two years. The effort is to tap middle and upmarket tourists from various regions of Russia and bring them to Kerala in the flights of Yakutia Airlines. The operation will be on the hub and spoke model,” Varghese Oommen, managing director of Oriental Routes, said.
Director of Yakutia Airlines Victor Barnov was in the capital this week to review the facilities at the New International Terminal Building of the Thiruvananthapuram airport and file papers to commence the chartered flight operations.
As a prelude to the chartered flight operations, tour operators in association with Qatar Airways organised a week-long “FAM” tour for the tour operators, travel agents, online travel companies, and travel writers of Russia to Kerala.
The 22-member Russian team, which is in the city now, visited Kochi, Thekkady, Kumarakom, and the backwaters before reaching Kovalam. The team interacted with leading travel agents, tour operators, and mediapersons on Wednesday. The team was excited over the destination and the tourism products. But, they did not hide their worries over infrastructure and road conditions at many destinations.
“The Russians will be flying back with fond memories of Kerala and writing articles to help us market the destination in Russia and attract tourists to the State from November. Kerala is getting popular in Russia and we are trying to highlight the State and the tourism products,” D. Reghuanthan Pillai of D.R. Tours said.
