Turkmenistan Airlines will restart regular flights to Moscow more than two years after discontinuing regular international services. The carrier will offer two weekly services between Ashgabat and Moscow starting from next month.

Turkmenistan twice-weekly flights to Moscow

Turkmenistan's national airline has relaunched regular flights to Moscow after returning to the city earlier this year. Turkmenistan Airlines will fly on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Ashgabat International Airport (ASB) to Moscow Domodedovo Airport (DME) from July 5th.

The return journey will depart Moscow for Turkmenbashi International Airport (KRW) on the same days.

Turkmenistan_Airlines Boeing 777-200LR
The Turkmen carrier will offer its Ashgabat-Moscow-Turkmenbashi service twice a week. Photo: Anna Zvereva via Wikimedia Commons.

The new schedule is as follows:

  • Tuesday - Departs Ashgabat at 19:25 (GMT+5), arrives in Moscow at 21:15 (GMT+3).
  • Thursday - Departs Ashgabat at 07:35 (GMT+5), arrives in Moscow at 09:25 (GMT+3).

The return leg:

  • Tuesday - Departs Moscow at 22:45 (GMT+3), arrives in Turkmenbashi at 04:15+1 (GMT+5).
  • Thursday - Departs Moscow at 10:55 (GMT+3), landing in Turkmenbashi - at 16:25 (GMT+5).

Intermittent flights began in March

Turkmenistan Airlines canceled all regular international services in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The airline only recently resumed flights to Moscow in March 2022 after two years away.

Since then, flight data from FlightRadar24.com reveals there have been fewer than ten flights in the past three months between Ashgabat and Moscow.

The Russian Embassy has been organizing repatriation flights over the course of the pandemic, conducting 46 flights in total. S7 Airlines had been operating these flights up until March 2022, after which Turkmenistan Airlines took on duties.

Fares for these flights shot up in light of economic sanctions on Russia, increasing from $400 to $600. Waiting times to get on these flights were estimated to be around 6-10 weeks for Russian citizens.

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Turkmenistan Airlines slowly resuming service

As governments continue to ease off COVID-19 restrictions, airlines worldwide begin to ramp up operations.

Turkmenistan Airlines resumed its regular services to Dubai and Kazan on May 30th and reportedly couldn't cope with the deluge of demand for tickets.

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The airline has already resumed regular flights to Kazan and Dubai. Photo: Eric Salard via Wikimedia Commons

According to The Chronicle of Turkmenistan, state rate fares between Turkmenabat and Kazan shot up from 1,300 manats ($372) to over 8,000 manats ($2,290), representing a mark-up of over 700%.

The carrier also plans to relaunch its services to Frankfurt this summer and has conducted other repatriation flights in recent weeks, including from Minsk, Belarus.

Have you traveled with Turkmenistan Airlines recently? Do you have any flights with the airline coming up? Let us know in the comments.

Source: The Chronicle of Turkmenistan