flydubai doubles Russian routes

flydubai, Dubai's low cost airline, is set to add two new Russian destinations to its rapidly growing network in September.

The budget airline said it is to launch flights to Kazan and Ufa, bringing flydubai's network to 43 destinations across the GCC, Middle East, Africa, Indian Sub-Continent, Asia and the fringes of Europe.

Kazan is one of the major economic, political, scientific, cultural, tourist and sports centres in Russia and the second largest city of the Volga economic region. It is also the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan.

It is one of the most visited cities in Russia thanks to its 1,000-year history and the Kazan Kremlin, which has been declared an UNESCO World Heritage site. It will also host XXVII World Student Games in 2013 and matches during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

flydubai CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith, said: "Our aim as an airline is to open up diverse global destinations to travellers and we are grateful to the Russian authorities for their continued support of our expansion plans in their country.

"Our new flights to Ufa and Kazan directly connect Dubai to two economic and industrial power centres in Russia for the first time, while also helping to showcase Dubai as a business and leisure destination to the important Russian and larger CIS markets."

The second of Flydubai's new destinations, Ufa, is the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Ufa is the largest oil refining centre in the Volga and the Urals, as well as a major transport hub, scientific, cultural and religious centre of Russia.
It is the fourth largest Russian city in terms of retail trade turnover, after Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.

Russia, meanwhile, is one of the world's fastest growing economies, growing by 4 percent in 2010 and a further 3.8 percent in the first five months of 2011.
flydubai recently announced flights to Kiev, Donetsk and Kharkiv in Ukraine and in addition to existing routes to Yekaterinburg and Samara in Russia, Baku in Azerbaijan, Yerevan in Armenia, and Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, the airline now links Dubai to 10 emerging CIS destinations.

Flights to Kazan will operate from September 14 with weekly flights to Ufa beginning on September 17.