‘The international hauls are not very popular at the moment. The number of flights operated to the hot countries like Egypt and Thailand and to Europe kept going down in January and February 2009. Thus, the number of flights bound for Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh, Bangkok, Dubai, Prague, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Budapest dropped by 7.6%, 19.3%, 30.1%, 33.8%, 17%, 19.4%, 32.1%, and 7.1%, respectively,’ Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport’s press officer said to an UrBC reporter.

The only exception to this rule is destinations to Tianjin, China and Goa, India: the number of flights operated to these locations rose by 40% and 47.6%, respectively. Then, considerably more passengers tend to fly to Baku, since no direct flights to the Azerbaijan capital are available at Cheyabinsk, Tyumen, or Perm airports.