First flight to Kiev (175 words)

Published: 7/13/2001

Surgut Airport started servicing international flights on the 7th of July 2001 with its the first international flight being Tyumenaviatran's new international flight Surgut - Kiev according to Inessa Gousseva from Tyumenaviatrans (TAT). The flight however, comes more than a year after the airport was cleared for international flights by the FSVT. TAT said that it had expected to make its first international flight from Surgut in November 2000 but the airport could not start servicing international flights at that time due to the reasons that TAT would not comment on, other than to say they were unrelated to the carrier. According to TAT, the Kiev flight was full, supporting the airline's view of the viability of the route due to the close connections between Western Siberia and Ukraine, due to the large number of Ukrainians living in Surgut and in the Khanty Mansysk Autonomous District. The airline plans to launch additional international flights to reduce the number of passengers having to go to Tyumen and other cities to fly abroad.

Article ID: 2644