My friend tells me that the cheapest r/t fare between Magadan and Moscow has risen by nearly 150% at its peak as the monopoly (or duopoly) seeks to maximise profit. It seems the lowest fare was about CAD 750 last year, rose to CAD 2,000 briefly and has fallen back to CAD 1,500 (probably because no one was flying at CAD 2,000). Supply and demand in effect that would make Milton Friedman and his ilk weep in joy.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by terenz:
CAD 1,500 </font>

Either your friend quotes Business class fares, or he/she needs to find a better travel agent. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

http://airtickets.ru/airtickets currently quotes the following high season fares on that route:

$655 US ($890 CAD) is the cheapest Economy fare

$1,100 US ($1,500 CAD) is full Business fare

If you take into consideration that there are 8 time zones between Moscow and Magadan, the fares are not that unreasonable.