From RIA NOVOSTI. March 31, 2006, 7:59 PM

MOSCOW, March 31 (RIA Novosti) - Bmi, formerly known as British Midland, is to begin regular flights between London and Moscow, becoming the second UK airline to cover the route, a press-release from the Russian Ministry of Transportation said Friday.
"Representatives of Russian and British aviation authorities concluded new agreements in the sphere of passenger air flights between the two countries," the press-release said. "Both sides during talks in Moscow on March 29-30 agreed to put a new carrier on the London-Moscow-London route."
Currently the only UK company serving the route is British Airways.
Bmi have received a quota to conduct 10 flights weekly between the two capitals, but the quota will be increased up to 14 flights by winter.
Bmi's operational base is London Heathrow, where it holds 11% of all take off and landing slots and operates over 2 ,000 flights a week.

The MinTrans press release also mentions both SU and BA will get an extra daily frequency between MOW and LHR and there'll be new routes - Moscow to Birmingham and Liverpool, London to Kaliningrad and Krasnoyarsk. Now is there enough people to want to fly from KJA to LHR (3000+ mi) nonstop is anybody's guess.

here's the full release in Russian:http://www.mintrans.ru/pressa/Novosty_060331_1.htm

Great post apoivre! I always forget to check the Russian sites.

I would think OVB over KJA. BP has lots of folks in Novosibirsk working on a number of huge TNK-BP projects. Once a week would be a great start.

Thanks!

I am very happy to see another non-LH option to get to MOW on *A. I've had hard time finding award availability on LH, LON on UA seems like a good alternative.

I am very happy to see another non-LH option to get to MOW on *A. I've had hard time finding award availability on LH, LON on UA seems like a good alternative.
SK is another option. I checked last week for a last-minute award flight, and SK had plenty of availability LON-MOW.

The Independent claims (http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article355843.ece) the new flight will be in partnership with the Russian carrier Transaero. Which means DME.

The agreement also opens new destinations and routes, including ... from London through Ekaterinburg to points beyond Russia and from any point in the UK to any additional new point in Russia to be nominated by the UK. UK airlines will receive a substantial increase in the number of flights they are permitted to operate through Russian airspace on routes to the Far East, and UK and Russian carriers may enter into codeshare agreements on each other's services.

http://atwonline.com/news/other.html?issueDate=4%2F5%2F2006

The MinTrans press release also mentions both SU and BA will get an extra daily frequency between MOW and LHR and there'll be new routes - Moscow to Birmingham and Liverpool, London to Kaliningrad and Krasnoyarsk. Now is there enough people to want to fly from KJA to LHR (3000+ mi) nonstop is anybody's guess.

here's the full release in Russian:http://www.mintrans.ru/pressa/Novosty_060331_1.htm

hmm what ever happened to the London KJA ( Krasnoyarsk) route - at the moment it seems to be London - Moscow and a choice of Aeoflot all the way or BA then KrasAir / Airunion via Domodedovo ... if someone else knows better please advise ! :)

The Independent claims (http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article355843.ece) the new flight will be in partnership with the Russian carrier Transaero. Which means DME.

This also fits in with the location of most of the other *A flights.

hmm what ever happened to the London KJA ( Krasnoyarsk) route - at the moment it seems to be London - Moscow and a choice of Aeoflot all the way or BA then KrasAir / Airunion via Domodedovo ... if someone else knows better please advise ! :)

Seems to be wishful thinking to see a non Russian/non Chinese/non Central Asian carrier come this far into the country. I've kinda given up hope really of a European carrier coming back into Siberia. I am loving SU as of late and I think SVO3 will suffice just fine for me between ATL and here (OVB). It would raise the anty though to see a foreign flag flying into these rapidly improving Siberian airports. We shall see...

The Kaliningrad flights did start, operated from Gatwick by KD Avia. They offer connections and through fares to a range of other Russian points.

http://www.kdavia.co.uk/kdavia/index.cfm

I don't know a single person who has used them though. I wonder where they got the money from to order 25 A320s ......

The Kaliningrad flights did start, operated from Gatwick by KD Avia. They offer connections and through fares to a range of other Russian points.

http://www.kdavia.co.uk/kdavia/index.cfm

I don't know a single person who has used them though. I wonder where they got the money from to order 25 A320s ......

They have some pretty attractive fares out of Russia to various points in Europe so quite a lot of people at my office have used them these few months.

Apparently, some flight do get cancelled and then you're stuck in Kaliningrad for the night but otherwise they seem to be OK

Apparently, some flight do get cancelled and then you're stuck in Kaliningrad for the night but otherwise they seem to be OK

:eek: