Aeroflot open a new route from Irkutsk to Nigata in Japan

Published: 8/4/1999

Aeroflot has started regular flights from Irkutsk to Nigata, Japan as of 30th July 1999. The once a week flight on Fridays will be linked with the Aeroflot service from Moscow to Irkutsk The airline is operating the route using Tupolev 154s offering three classes of service. Pricing for the flight is first class return ticket $ 1200, business class $900 return with the economy starting from $350 The aircraft leaves Irkutsk at 11:05am and arrives at Nigata at 5pm (local time). The flight time is 4.5 hours. Aeroflot has been steadily expanding its international flights from the regions as part of its ongoing strategy of creating regional hubs. Over the last two years the airline has started eight similar flights to this: ·Novosibirsk-Hanover ·Belgorod - Tel Aviv ·Vladivostok - Yuzhno-Sakhalisnk- Seattle- Anchorage ·Vladivostok - Bangkok-Singapore ·St. Petersburg - San Francisco ·St. Petersburg - New York ·St. Petersburg - Tokyo ·St. Petersburg - Oslo The new route has strong historical reasons for being opened, as Irkutsk is close to Lake Baikal were many Japanese prisoners of war died after World War II. There is therefore a steady flow of Japanese visiting their relative's graves and a clinic for Japanese has recently been opened in the city.

Article ID: 729