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About 39,000 VIM-Avia carrier clients still staying abroad

The carrier sold as many as 196,633 tickets as of Monday, adding that most of the sold tickets cover the period until the end of October.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. Almost 39,000 tourists who were to fly back home on VIM-Avia planes are staying abroad, Head of the Federal Tourism Agency (Rosturism) Oleg Safonov told reporters.

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"VIM-Avia has stopped its charter program, and now 38,915 people are staying abroad, mainly in Turkey. As many as 1,550 people are to be returned [home] under the domestic charter program, and 2,200 Chinese citizens flew to Russia (on VIM-Avia planes - TASS) and are to be returned to the People’s Republic of China, as of September 26," Safonov said.

He also said that the carrier sold as many as 196,633 tickets as of Monday, adding that most of the sold tickets cover the period until the end of October.

According to Oleg Safronov, within the next few days, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) and the Transport Ministry will decide on repatriation pattern. "Possibilities of Vim-Avia can be probably used, maybe these will be other carriers. The issue is being solved," he said, adding that their repatriation will not come at the expense of tour operators.

On Monday, VIM-Avia, Russia’s tenth largest carrier, announced plans to stop charter flights due to financial problems.

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