Turkmenistan Airlines, which suspended flights to Moscow in early August, has effectively canceled them now, according to the new schedule published on the airline's website on November 1,Turkmen.news reports.
In the final days of July and the night of August 1, 2023, Moscow experienced the most massive drone attack during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. As a result, on August 1, the Turkmen airline suspended flights to Moscow "due to the air situation in the Moscow airspace, as well as based on the risk assessment to ensure flight safety." On August 5, it was announced that Turkmenistan had canceled flights until October 28, 2023.
Now, in the new schedule, there are only flights from Ashgabat to Kazan. Flights from Ashgabat to Moscow have been completely removed from the flight network.
Turkmenistan became the only country to react so radically to the situation in the Moscow airspace. In August-September, when Ukrainian drones were detected in the Moscow region quite frequently, Russian media reported multiple flight delays and passenger inconveniences. They even predicted that foreign airlines might refuse to operate under such conditions. However, in October, the drones stopped reaching the Moscow region.
Turkmenistan Airlines resumed flights to Kazan first, even after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, and only later to Moscow. Now, the air connection between the Turkmen carrier and Russia is once again limited to Tatarstan. However, the Moscow-Ashgabat route is still operated by the Russian airline S7.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
November 6, 2023