The first airlift after the airport’s closure was performed by Aeroflot, Russia’s flag carrier in civil aviation, on April 10.
An Airbus A330-300 plane was sent to the Southern resort province of Thailand and left the island at 3.20pm. Ten hours later the plane landed in St. Petersburg and after disembarking some of the passengers headed further to Moscow.
Aeroflot’s first flight to the island after the closure of Phuket International Airport airlifted some 228 Russians, including two infants, St. Petersburg airport’s press service said.
As of Mar 30, around 20,800 Russians had applied to their Embassy saying they need assistance in returning to their home country from Thailand. Some 8,000 applications had been filed from Phuket, Russian Ambassador to Thailand Evgeny Tomikhin said at the moment.
It is unclear how many Russian nationals are still staying in Phuket waiting for further airlifts which are yet to be announced.
As of April 11, four more flights to Russia have been confirmed with all of them are scheduled to depart from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The Embassy advises Russian tourists to check for updates on its website and Facebook page.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) explained earlier this week, that only Russian nationals who left Russia after Jan 1, 2020 can apply for airlifts back home. Another mandatory requirement is to register through www.gosuslugi.ru, an official website for Russians to get various government services.
Rosaviatsiya clearly stated that airlifts should not be perceived as a free transportation service. Those who don’t have any return tickets to Russia or have canceled tickets issued by non-Russian air carriers have to pay a fee of 200 to 400 euro. Yet those with tickets issued by Russian carriers fly for free with the companies later settling the financial matters themselves.
Also there are limits on the number of arrivals Russian airports can accept per day. The limit for Moscow’s main gateway Sheremetyevo has been set at 400 people, the limit for all other cities has been set at 200 people.
A typical Airbus A330-300, normally used on all Aerflot flights from Thailand to Moscow, has 300 seats.