Society

18:33, 10.04.2008 | Primorye Territory

Vladivostok Avia has announced summer flights between the Russian Far East and Anchorage, according to a recent announcement by International Travel Consultants in Anchorage.

The Russia-based airline obtained rights from the U.S. Department of Transportation to fly between Petropavlosk-Kamchatski and Anchorage, according to an Itar-Tass press release. The flights are planned for service between July 15 and Sept. 15.



Initially the flights are scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays, with arrival at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport at 5:45 a.m. and departures heading for Petropavlosk at 7:45 a.m.



Originally the airline announced that it would use Tupelov Tu-204 jets, similar to the Boeing 757-200, but recently switched to its Airbus 320-200 aircraft for this route.



International Travel Consultants in Anchorage will be the sole agent for booking and reservations in Alaska, owner Yoshi Ogawa said.



This isn't the first attempt at flights between the Russian Far East and Alaska. Russia's airlines Aeroflot and Mavial failed to generate enough traffic to warrant flights and eventually canceled service between the Russian Far East and Alaska.



But with increased oil activity in the Russian Far East, the oil industry has sought a more direct way to access Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk after Reeve Aleutian Airways went out of business.



Reeve offered flights between Anchorage and the Russian Far East cities of Petropavlovsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk from 1994 until the airline ceased operations in 2001.



Current routes take Alaskans from Anchorage to Seattle, then from Seattle (back over Alaska) to Seoul, Korea. From Seoul, the flight goes to Yuzhno. The trip takes about 20 hours and includes an overnight stay in Seoul.



The new route from Anchorage to Petropavlovsk and on to Yuzhno cuts 12 hours from flight times, depending on weather there, according to officials.



Ogawa said Japanese nationals would manage bookings and management of Vladivostok Air flights to Alaska from a Tokyo office.



He added that the more direct route to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, a Russian island north of Japan in the Sea of Okhotsk, is faster and will offer service to Vladivostok, Tokyo and Hanoi.



Vladivostok Avia also offers flights to Korea and between and Vladivostok, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Abakan, Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk.



Vladivostok Avia is banking on the popularity of the flights among outdoor enthusiasts from Russia, Korea, China, Singapore and Thailand wanting to come to Alaska.



"The Vladivostok Avia summer schedule will provide direct access to Anchorage from the rapidly growing business and leisure travel markets of the Far East," said David Kasser, vice president of tourism development and sales for the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau.



International tourism has continued a sustained growth increase throughout the past several years with 2007 marking a 5.6 percent increase in arrivals. The Far East, in particular, is an emerging market for Anchorage. China, for example, is projected to supply 100 million travelers by 2020, according to the World Tourism Organization.





-Anchoradge daily news