As the destruction of Ukraine continues, Russia is restarting international flights to some of the few countries where its aircraft are welcome, like Sri Lanka.
On March 22, Aeroflot Airlines announced that from April 8, flight SU288 will leave Moscow on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 2330, returning the next day at 1250.
Flights will depart from Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport and arrive at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport, the hub of Sri Lankan Airlines.
Aeroflot to use Boeing 777-300ER for Sri Lankan flights
Aeroflot’s announcement says an Airbus A330 will be used but the website booking page nominates a Boeing 777-300ER. Aeroflot's 777-300ERs have a three-class layout, with a total of 403 seats and range in age from nine months to nine years.
Planespotters.net show Aeroflot has 22 of this type, four of which have already been re-registered to the Russian fleet, with another 17 listed as 'to be re-registered.' For example, aircraft VP-BGB was reregistered as RA-73140 during March, a fate that awaits much of the Aeroflot fleet.
On March 22, Russian news agency TASS reported that Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said almost 800 of the 1367 planes in the fleet have already been transferred to Russia's aeronautical register. He added that 78 aircraft were arrested in foreign countries and would not return to Russia, saying "we lost 78 aircraft."
Savelyev asserted that foreign lessors were refusing to negotiate on compensation for aircraft used by Russian airlines or the buyout of those planes,
"But we are not losing hope, and we are not handing anything back either. To do so would mean to leave ourselves without air fleet."
While Russian airlines may be wary of venturing out of home, Savelyev says that 32 airlines from 22 countries continue to fly to Russia, in particular the Arab airlines that fly without restriction.
Aeroflot also announced a resumption of flights to Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan, adding five more international routes to their schedules.
Routes reopening in March to Iran and Kyrgyzstan
Airbus A321s will be used on flights to Tehran, Iran, and to Bishkek and Osh in Kyrgyzstan, with some aircraft already reregistered. The routes to Baku, Azerbaijan and Yerevan in Armenia are scheduled to be flown with Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, which need no sanction-busting reregistration.
In addition to the Aeroflot plans, its subsidiary Rossiya is also planning to open flights to Cairo and Tel Aviv from Sochi on April 7th. Russian publication Izvestia reported that tickets will go on sale in the near future.
Rossiya is also reported to be laying plans to fly from Sochi to Aktau, Aktobe and Almaty (Kazakhstan), Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman (Turkey) and Bukhara (Uzbekistan) in April. All these flights will use the Sukhoi Superjet 100.
A rapid restart
These announcements about restarting international flights come a little more than two weeks after Aeroflot suspended all international flights on March 8. Obviously, they are to 'friendly' countries, with perhaps none more friendly than Sri Lanka.
To mark the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties, and just days before Russia invaded Ukraine, Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa sent a letter to Vladimir Putin, later published in the Tamil Guardian newspaper, saying,
"I wish to express my fervent desire to work closely with you to further consolidate and expand the existing solid partnership between our two countries in the years ahead."
After the invasion, Sri Lanka's foreign minister said the government would not "take sides" on Russia's actions, adding that "each side can have their own reasons."
With Air India continuing to fly over Russian airspace and an open door into Sri Lanka, it seems Russian tourists have found somewhere new to go for their summer holidays and Aeroflot, with its reregistered western-built aircraft, is happy to take them there.