Russian aviation authorities have recently allowed^(rus) several new European destinations for direct regular flights from Sochi. This is very good news for both Sochi residents and foreign guests, who normally had to fly to Europe through other cities, usually Moscow, Krasnodar, or more recently Istanbul.

Flowing European cities were added to the map of the places that have direct air connection with Sochi:

• Belgrade
• Bratislava
• Hanover
• Helsinki
• KievDonAvia
• London
• Madrid
• Minsk
• Oslo
• Prague
• Stockholm
• Zurich

Flight Sochi – Belgrade will be operated by Ural Airlines (starting July according schedule on their website) two times a week, Sochi – Prague flights  – by Yakutia Airlines (they have newest Russian jet – Sukhoi Superjet 100, I hope we’ll see it here in Sochi) three times a week, all other destinations will be operated by Orenair (Orenburg Airlines) – subsidiary of Aeroflot – three times a week.

The only other foreign cities Sochi is currently directly connected with are Istanbul (Turkish Air, DonAvia), Trabzon (UTair), Erevan (Armavia, DonAvia), and a couple of Middle Eastern former Soviet cities.

Turkish Airlines announced launch of flights from Istanbul to Sochi this summer season. Flights to Sochi will be three times a week.

Aeroflot Russian Airlines, Russia’s biggest airline carrier, has been picked as a General Partner for the 2014 Games in the Sochi 2014 Passenger Air Transportation Services category.

The only interesting thing I gather of this news story as far as this blog goes is following statement from the press release: “As part of its partnership programme Aeroflot will increase the number of regular flights bound for Sochi and launch new direct flights from Sochi to parts of Europe.”

The only direct regular flight I know of between Sochi and European city that exist today is Sochi-Vienna operated by Austrian Airlines.

Full press release on this news with other details is available on official Sochi 2014 website.

I might as well post list of airlines that I know fly to Sochi from Moscow and St. Petersburg: Read the rest of this entry »

Only 3 airlines have direct flights to Sochi — Russia’s largest summer resort, from Saint-Petersburg — Russia’s second largest city, a home to over 4.5 million people… in the middle of the summer season. One of them flies with a stop in Krasnodar (that adds several hrs to your travel time), and another one of the three only flies 4 times a week.

Compare this to 12 (!) airlines (that I know of, there could be more) that have direct flights between Sochi and Moscow.

Many other cities have it worse than St. Petes, there either no flights, or flights only a couple of days a week. There’s no competition, and because it’s the middle of the vacationing season there are no special deals. This makes Sochi one very expensive destination to fly to.

Consider this: s Saint-Petersburg – Sochi round trip flight in the first half of August with convenient weekdays (weekends) and departure times on “Russia Airlines” – the only one that has direct, non-stop flights daily – costs 548,00 EUR ! And this is with 5% off for buying tickets online already calc’ed in.

At the same time there are plenty tours (which include travel, accommodation, and, often, food) offered to Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria, and resorts in other countries for approximately the same price or even lower… while I couldn’t find anything similar for Sochi, or any other resort on Russia’s south.

And comparing these prices to the deals available on inter-European flights from low-cost European airlines, all this drives me crazy.

I’m going to Sochi for the New Year, yay! I just hope the flight won’t be delayed, as my flight is at 7pm :) The only comforting thought is that it’s Aeroflot flight, and in my experience they’ve been very reliable in being on-time. Unlike SkyExpress. Since I moved to St. Petersburg two month ago, I’ve spent most weekends in Moscow, thanks to the reasonable rates at SkyExpress . However every flight back to SPb was delayed! On the last trip the flight to Moscow was combined with another SE flight that they delayed for several hours, and on the way back my flight was delayed 6 hrs. The good think they did sent me text message about the delay, and I ended up meeting my friends from Sochi Music College (now called Sochi College of Arts, or something like that), who now live in Moscow. So, this time it worked out Ok.

All cheap tickets to Sochi for Dec 30-31^st on all airlines were sold out about a month in advance. My Moscow-Sochi-Moscow tickets ended up being 515€. If you’re looking for tickets now, check out Aeroflot first, they have many flights there on 31st, and probably will still have tickets.

I’ll be in Sochi from 31st to 8th. No particular plans yet, we’ll probably go out clubbing with friends, or get together at someone’s place. What are your New Year plans?

Past summer I was asked about direct flights between Sochi and Dubai, as I wrote about ’em before. I knew there are direct flights, but I couldn’t find any info about it at that point in time, even on the official «Aeroflot-Don»’s website, which operates this route. That was strange to me, since I’ve read many times that AD has regular direct flights, and my close friend brags about going there every year. I did ask my friend about the flight, I told him that I can’t find any info about it, but he said it exists and we can call right now to find out the details. Sitting at the beach in burning sun on a beautiful September day we didn’t, but when couple of weeks ago he told me they’re going to OAE again, I figured I gotta find out what’s the deal is.

Turns out these flight are only regular during winter season. This also includes flights to Istanbul, Turkey, and Gyumri, Armenia. And the information about them is now available on «Aeroflot-Don»’s website (Russian only).

Sochi (Russia) — Dubai (OAE)
Flights period: 28.10.2008 – 24.03.2009
Once a week, every Tuesday.

Sochi (Russia) — Istanbul (Turkey)
Flights period: 27.10.2008 – 27.03.2009
Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Sochi (Russia) — Gyumri (Armenia)
Flights period: 20.11 – 25.12.2008, 08.01 – 26.03.2009
Once a week, every Thursday.

So, there it is. Apparently there are no direct flights to these cities from Sochi during summer.

And as a reminder, Australian Airlines operates regular direct flights between Sochi and Vienna.

Hey guys! I’m sorry i haven’t written anything in a while, but there is a little change in my life — after thirteen years living in the USA I’m back in Russia giving it a try :-) Unfortunately I’m not in Sochi, as it’s tough to find an IT job there. I’m in Saint-Petersburg. And I’m a lot closer to Sochi now, plan to visit it more often, and for sure will keep this blog going!

I did go to Sochi a month ago, and you can find some photos from my trip on my Flickr account. Unfortunately, I forgot my notes on what I wanted to blog about in NY. I’ll try to remember, though, at least about the Investment Forum and how it’s organization affected people there.

Couple of hours ago, though, there was a little scare here in Russia when news agencies reported SkyExpress flight from Sochi to Moscow was being seized by unknown person, and that he demands for the plane to turn to Vienna, Austria. However, the flight safely landed in Vnukovo airport in Moscow, and the person who tried to “seize” the plane was arrested. Turns out the person who started the whole thing is a 30+ yrs old man who was released from psychiatric hospital, where he spent last six years, several hours prior to boarding the plane. On the plane he passed a written note with his demands and a bomb threat to the pilot via flight attendant. It’s all over now, though.

Oh, btw, good news for those of you who are in Moscow right now, or plans to be there real soon — SkyExpress has a good deal on Moscow-Sochi flights right now. Check it out on their website »

Anyways, now back to the happy stuff :-) Below are some of the photos from my trip. You can see the rest of them here: photos of Sochi – 12 pages + 8 pages from my friend’s wedding in Sochi which includes many photos outside.

My sis on Krasnaya Polyana

Sochi - where Past meets present: Vladimir Iljich looking over new buildings

Area near airport in Adler's center

Sochi sea port

My friend's wedding

Russian page of Austrian Airlines lists special price for roundtrip direct flighs to Sochi — 13.655 RUB which is around 370€. This doesn’t include taxes and other fees, so you should check with Austrian on the details. The announced prices are valid through the end of July.

Here’s the link to announcement (in Russian).

A year ago, around the time International Olympic Committee’s visit to Sochi, several direct flights from Austria were launched to Sochi mostly to “impress” the IOC members. Now, when Sochi has become an official 2014 Olympic host city, Austrian Airlines launched regular direct flights from Vienna to Sochi.

The schedule Vienna-Sochi-Vienna:

S7, also known as «Sibir» Airlines, will start operation of St.-Petersburg — Sochi flights for the first time. Three and a half hours flights will operate every day starting September 17 with starting price of $145 (3700 rub); «Sibir» also offers lower cost tickets online – web-price for these flights will start at $80 (1990 rub).

Another flight, Novosibirsk – Samara – Sochi will start operating on September 19th and will also be a daily flight. These flights will start at $225 (5700 rub) one way.

«Dexter» Airlines will also start operating flights to Sochi, as well as several other southern cities, from Rostov and Krasnodar. «Dexter» is Russia’s first airline to offer “on-demand” flights. With prices “by kilometer” and park of Swiss-made Pilatus PC-12 and Russian-made M-101T airplanes, «Dexter» offers on-demand and regular flights from Business and VIP terminals, with registration times under 15 minutes. Prices for flights to Sochi will be $0.6-1 per kilometer for regular flights, and $4-5/ km for on-demand flights.