Russia may still suspend charterflight to Turkey

Russia may suspend charter flights to Turkey due to the “difficult political situation”, the Federal Air Transport Agency has warned airlines.

Charter flights between Russia and Turkey were restored in August last year after one Russian fighter jet was downed by the Turkish Air Forces in late 2015.

This ban could seriously hurt Turkey’s already battered tourism industry which depends heavily on visitors from Russia. Russian travel agents have already sold up to 400,000 package tours to Turkey. In total, it said 3 million Russian tourists were expected to visit this year.

The number of Russian visitors to Turkey fell to 866,000 in 2016, from 3.65 million in 2015. Russia was the second largest source of tourists in 2015 after Germany.