Upbeat Jan-July figures (221 words)

Published: 9/6/2001

According to Arina Krivitskaya of Archangelsk Airlines (AVL), the 100% state-owned airline carried 12% more passengers between January-July 2001, resulting in a total of 101,738 passengers travelling with the airline over the period. Krivitskaya attributed the increase in passengers to high traffic on Archangelsk - Anapa and Archangelsk - Sochi routes, which has grown by almost 130% in the first seven months and to the opening of two new routes: Apatity - Moscow - Sochi and Apatity - Moscow - Anapa. She added that the company also significantly increased the utilisation of its Tu-154, Tu-134 and An-26 over the first seven months of 2000. The airline also operates routes to Moscow, St Petersburg, Kolas, Sochi, Anapa and Belgorod. Charter flights by An-24 to Solovki Islands have recently started with the repair of the island's runway earlier this year, offering tourists a chance to visit an historic monastery, plus a more unusual tourist attraction - Stalin's labour camps! Krivitskaya claimed that the camps are attracting not only Russians, but also Scandinavians and she expects that the demand could grow sufficiently to justify a scheduled service. The airline is also currently developing flights from Naryan Mar and Apatity (Murmansk region). From Naryan Mar, AVL flies to Archangelsk and Moscow and from Apatity, it operates Moscow-Sochi and Moscow-Anapa routes.

Article ID: 2736