Direct BA-Moscow flights from 1 June, Warsaw line cancelled

Following a one year absence, direct flights to Moscow will return to Bratislava Airport once again, as Russian airline UTair fills the gap left by Aeroflot, which stopped operating the route in May 2010.

UTair will start operating four flights a week between Bratislava and Vnukovo Airport in Moscow as the summer season starts on 1 June, with the rising interest of Russians in Slovakia also thanks also to spotlight of the Ice Hockey World Championships.

The company should be operating the 2hr 45min flights on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday until the end of the summer flights plan, i.e. the end of October, with 50-seater Bombadier CRJ jets.

UTair is an integrated air transport and aircraft services company with over 40 years of experience on the Russian air transport market. UTair is focused on 5 strategic business segments: passenger transport operations, helicopter operations, MRO, airport services and airline catering services.

Today, UTair operates the largest aircraft fleet in Russia and ranks among the top five largest Russian carriers by passenger volume, having transported almost 9 million passengers last year. UTair is the Russian market leader in helicopter services and is the world’s fourth largest helicopter service provider by volume of international operations.

In 2008 the company was granted the IOSA certificate confirming the airline’s compliance with the world flight safety standards and in December 2008 UTair became a member of the International Aviation Transport Association (IATA). In November 2008 UTair and Lufthansa AG signed an agreement on commercial cooperation (Interline). This agreement has become the first step towards the high-grade cooperation of UTair Aviation and Star Alliance.

On the other hand, direct flights to Warsaw operated by Polish airline LOT will be cancelled next week from 17 May due to weak interest.