MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/: There is no exact date of resuming flights between Russia and other countries, but the issue is on the agenda, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
"This issue [on resuming flights] is on the agenda. There are no exact dates yet," Peskov noted, adding that it was up to the government to decide on this matter.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin earlier ordered to draw up proposals on a possible date of resuming flights. "The major driving force here is the government’s crisis center led by the head of government."
On Sunday, an airline source told TASS that the Federal Air Transport Agency in the near future planned to send to the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing its proposals on resuming flights from Russia to 15 countries since July 15. According to the source, there are plans to open flights to "nearly all countries" for business aviation. The list of countries will be drawn up jointly by the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing.
In late March, Russia fully suspended flights with other countries amid the pandemic, except for evacuation, cargo and mail flights. The first step was made when Russia limited flights to China since February 1, and then to South Korea, Iran and several more countries.
In March, when a new coronavirus outbreak started in Europe, Russia imposed restrictions on flights to Spain, Italy, Germany and France and several days after they were applied to the entire Europe. By March 23, flights were banned to 95 countries and since March 27 Russia fully shut down regular and charter flights. Amid the lockdown introduced in most Russian regions, in April passenger traffic of Russian airlines dropped 91.8% to slightly more than 770,000 passengers.
