Details have emerged about a new Turkish airline that will carry exclusively Russian tourists to Turkish resorts in Antalya airport.
According to new information from AirportHaber, the airline, dubbed Southwind, will officially begin operations at the end of May. The source writes that the application for the creation of the company was accepted by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (GCA) and the process has been accelerated.
It has become known that Southwind will initially start operating five Airbus aircraft, three wide-body and two narrow-body. The airline will be based in Antalya. Earlier it was reported that the creation of this airline will attract an additional 1 million tourists from Russia.
Russia has been the leader in the number of tourists sent to Turkey for several years. In 2021, almost 4.7 million Russian tourists vacationed in the country, while in 2022 Turkey expected 7 million vacationers from Russia. In March, the flow of tourists declined sharply.