Rich Russians are accustomed to spend holidays in the resorts of the Mediterranean sea or in the London penthouses. Now, when the usual regular flights in business class was abolished, many have decided to resort to using private jets.
As reported by Russian newspaper RBC, in June the number of flights of private business jets from different airlines increased more than doubled — from 400 to 850.
If in March-April, Russia had relatively few cases of infection with coronavirus in Europe have already been the peak. In may, the situation has changed, and the number of cases of the virus in Russia increased rapidly.
Rich Russians like Cyprus, Monaco, England, and French nice.
Many wealthy Russians in these countries is the property. In addition, Cyprus and Malta also offer for a major investment so-called “Golden passport”. A residence permit on the same principle you can get in Greece, Latvia and Portugal.
Flight on a private plane usually costs about 16-25 euros.
Some companies have begun to sell individual seats in a small business jet. For example, in 13-seater aircraft a Leading Charter Technologies one place costs about four thousand Euro. Director of the Moscow office of company Leo Shalaev recently told AFP that in July, the company received 50 such requests a day.
According to Shalaev, the Russians prefer a nice, Malaga, Alicante and Barcelona.
Other rental companies in Russia, private jets, Reuters reported that in the spring the demand for their services have increased significantly. Especially a lot of requests for flights to Vienna, Larnaca and Riga came in mid-April, from families with children.
In June, Russia loosened restrictions, and citizens can now go abroad for family reasons or medical reasons.
So now rich Russians book their treatment at private clinics and travel on private jets to Europe on vacation. Now medical tourism is thriving in Spain.
Socialite and former candidate for President of Russia Ksenia Sobchak wrote on instagram that many of her friends flew from Russia to a foreign passport, or “for medical reasons”.
The state airline, Aeroflot operates flights to some European countries — but only for citizens of EU and Schengen agreement. Officially in “Aeroflot” does not sell the Russians the tickets for international flights until Aug.
According to RBC, Aeroflot still sell tickets to Russians on a tourist visa, for example, on flights to America.
At the end of June, the EU has compiled a list of countries outside the European Union, with whom he decided to open the border. Russia in this list were not included.
Earlier in the summer, Serbia and Montenegro stated that to allow the intermediate landing of private aircraft in their countries. Thus, the Russians could fly to Europe transit through these countries until last week. In the end, however, the EU announced the restoration of restrictions on Serbia and Montenegro.
In June, the Russian private jet was sitting up in Austria, despite the limitations — because of an error by the Finnish officials. The plane of the former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov was flying from Moscow to Salzburg, 23 June, having made an intermediate landing in Helsinki airport Vantaa.
From Russia you can fly to Austria only in case of emergency, and the rules could not be circumvented, making a flight through Finland. However, passengers have successfully passed the control at Helsinki-Vantaa. Specific data about the passengers is not.
The number of flights on private jets has increased worldwide, because most international airlines have stopped scheduled flights.
For example, in the beginning of the epidemic of the coronavirus in the country was returned on a private jet the Chinese. According to the Agency Bloomberg, in the USA, despite the virus, rich Americans fly in private jets at the local resorts.
Russia has also raised the demand for helicopters. The rich are increasingly choosing helicopters — including for small flights.
Helicopters have long been popular with the hardworking politicians and businessmen, allowing them to avoid traffic jams. New customers who in turn are looking for a safe way to travel.
Viktor Martynov, the Director of a company that sells helicopters, told AFP that helicopter sales in the period of a pandemic has increased by 30%.
His company sells different helicopters. The cost can make from 40 thousand euros to one million euros.
