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Crimea and Sevastopol

Transport service to Crimea operates according to schedule

Seven passenger trains running both ways and three return flights from Moscow have been used now, but the number of flights might be increased to 14 per day if necessary, the transport minister said

© ITAR-TASS/ Vladimir Astapkovich

NOVO-OGARYOVO, March 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The transportation service between Russia and the Crimean peninsula has been operating without breaks with all kinds of transport employed, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told President Putin at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo on Wednesday.

Seven passenger trains running both ways and three return flights from Moscow have been used now, but the number of flights might be increased to 14 per day if necessary, the transport minister said.

"Air traffic control has been practically and physically exercised through the Simferopol air traffic control center. Today, Aeroflot planes fly in transit across Ukraine with no restrictions. We have additional alternative corridors through Rostov, of course", the minister said.

The air service to Crimea has been provided by three flights from Moscow performed by the Aeroflot and Globus airline companies with an overall passenger load of 400-600 passengers one way per day, the minister said. The air service will switch over to summer schedule as of March 29; the flight schedule is not final yet, but airline companies have already confirmed plans for 14 flights per day, the minister said.

Putin asked the minister if the volume of transportation could be increased in summer. “The air service might be increased by sending more flights from other cities of Russia, rather than from Moscow only; besides, we see an additional potential in transportations by sea,” the minister said, adding the necessary infrastructure was available in Anapa with high-speed passenger boats seating 350 each.

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Crimea and Sevastopol

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