UPDATE: Turkey approves 63 weekly charter flights from Russia

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ANKARA, Aug 31 (PRIME) -- The Turkish civil aviation authority has permitted 63 charter flights between Antalya and Russian cities a week, as follows from a statement published on Wednesday on the official Twitter account of the watchdog.

Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for the Turkish President, said that Ankara welcomes Russia’s decision to restart charter flights. “I want to emphasize that we are very happy with this decision.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin abolished a prohibition to sell packaged tours and to carry charter flights to Turkey in June, when relations between Moscow and Ankara warmed.

Later events in Turkey resulted in suspension of a charter flight restart from Russia. On August 28, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order to abolish any restrictions on Russian charter flights to Turkey.

Earlier this week, Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, said that Russian tour operators will resume charter flights to Turkey until the end of the week.

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