RUSSIA: Russia To Fly Own Passenger Airliner IL-96-400, Azimuth Airline Receives AOC

Russia's Il-96-400 passenger airliner, manufactured by the Voronezh Aircraft Production Association (VASO), will allow Russian planes to win back the country's domestic air transportation market, which is currently dominated by planes manufactured by Boeing and Airbus, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Saturday.

"The Il-96-400 plane will become a very important milestone in returning the market of domestic air transportation, including the wide-body segment… And we will do it, because we rely on that unique experience, on those traditions, on that dedication to business that has always characterized the Voronezh aircraft manufacturers," Rogozin said in Voronezh at an event marking the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the aviation plant.

Rogozin also noted that work related to the forthcoming tests of the Il-112V light military transport aircraft, which is expected to replace the fleet of Russia's aging Antonov An-26 planes, is ongoing.

The Il-96-400 is a larger modification of the Russian-made long-haul wide-fuselage passenger airliner Il-96-300, which can carry up to 300 people.

The new plane has four powerful engines and advanced avionics. It weighs 270 tonnes and has a maximum flight range of 7,500 miles.

The recently formed Azimuth airline received an operator's certificate - a document that gives the right to a legal person to fly, the air carrier's press service reported.

Currently, a set of preparatory works is being carried out, the commencement of flights is planned for September.

Azimuth will operate flights on comfortable aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100 on routes that connect cities both within the Southern and North Caucasus Federal Districts and with the cities of other regions of Russia.

Meanwhile,Russian aircraft will carry out observation flights over Latvia and Lithuania from August 21-26 under the Treaty on Open Skies, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, citing Sergei Ryzhkov, the head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center.

The observation flights will be carried out in from August 21 to August 26 from airfields in Riga and Siauliai, with representatives of both Baltic countries on board controlling the use of observation equipment and fulfillment of the treaty’s provisions, the statement said.

According to head of the Russian National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov, as part of the international Open Skies Treaty, a group of Russian inspectors plans to sequentially carry out observation flights on board of Russian An-30B aircraft over the territories of Latvia and Lithuania, the ministry's statement said.

The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in March 1992 and entered into force on January 1, 2002. It establishes the regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its participants and enables them to gather information about military forces and activities.

According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's Il-96-400 passenger airliner will allow Russian planes to win back the country's domestic air transportation market.



Tourism Observer

RUSSIA: Red Tourism Boosts Tourism In China And Russia

A tour bus travels along a winding road on the outskirts of Moscow. Onboard, a posse of Chinese tourists, all in their 50s and 60s, sing along to Moscow Nights, a tune produced during the former Soviet Union.

This is a "red tour" organized by a travel agency in central China's Hunan Province, home of Mao Zedong, according to Shu Liangliang, the tour guide.

Shu has been a tour guide for more than three years, taking Chinese visitors to iconic sites in Russia such as Lenin's tomb, the Kremlin, and Red Square.

Most of my tourists are senior citizens who experienced the "honeymoon phase" between China and the Soviet Union, Shu said.

Red tours, those taking visitors to the sites of early communist activities are booming in China and Russia, as the two governments have inked agreements to boost such activities in recent years.

Shu vividly remembers one of his tourists reciting a Mao speech at the University of Moscow, where Mao originally gave the speech.

"He had memorized every word," Shu recalled.

In 2015, 22 tourism agencies from China and Russia agreed to conduct red tours during a tourism exchange program held in Shaoshan, birthplace of Mao Zedong.

As direct flight routes continue to open and disposable income increases, more and more such tours have hit the road.

In 2015, for example, 4,497 people from Hunan visited Russia on red tours. In 2016, the number rose 72.27 percent year on year to 7,747.

Last week, more than 1,000 people from Yan'an, a "red city" in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, began driving in a convoy to Russia as part of a red tour. A similar caravan of vehicles left from Changsha, capital of Hunan Province.

To cater to rising demand, Russia's tourism authorities have launched a series of "red-themed" tourism products specially designed for Chinese tourists.

In St. Petersburg, known as Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, the local government touts products associated with the Soviet Union to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution, with itineraries imparting history about "Chinese Comrades in Red Petrograd" and the "February Revolution in Petrograd."

Meanwhile, China's red tourism sites, where its early communist activities began, are drawing a large number of Russian tourists, particularly Hunan Province, hometown of Chinese revolutionary figures such as Mao, Liu Shaoqi, and Peng Dehuai, which currently has 140 red tourist sites.

Shaoshan, Mao's birthplace, is particularly popular with foreign tourists, said Wen Benhui, deputy head of the local tourism development commission.

As the top tourism destination in Hunan, Shaoshan is becoming a driving force behind Hunan's red tourism, Wen said.

At the tourist sites, visitors can view historic posters of the revolutionary heroes, read stories of their early life and communist activities in their former residences, try on the uniforms of red soldiers, as well as enjoy local foods and watch performances depicting the heroes' fighting spirits.

Li Yalan, a Hunan-based tour guide with China Travel Service, said that her company receives on average 15 Russian tour groups per month, most of them coming as families.

Last year, Hunan received 35,035 Russian tourists, up 31.66 percent year on year.

Like St. Petersburg, local authorities in Hunan also organized specially-designed red tours for Russian visitors, with tourism products such as "The early life of Mao Zedong" and "The War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in Hunan" quite popular.

We hope to create great itineraries to boost the development of red tourism, said an official with the provincial tourism development commission.

RUSSIA: Visit Russia Tourism Office Opens In Hanoi

The Russian government opened a Visit Russia office in the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi on April 14. The office aims to promote tourism in Russia from ASEAN and East Asian countries.

The office will work with travel agencies from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea.

“The main missions of the office are to create a positive image of Russia as a country favorable for tourism and recreation, increasing confidence in the Russian tourism industry, and promoting all regions and all types of tourism in Russia from Asia,” Alexander Basov, the head of the Hanoi office told RBTH.

According to the latest Russian government statistics, tourism from Asian countries to Russia grew significantly in 2015. Last year, arrivals from Thailand grew by 76 percent, while the number of tourists visiting Russia from Vietnam grew by 57 percent. In 2015, the number of South Korean tourists visiting Russia grew by 41 percent.

Visit Russia also has offices in China, Germany, Finland, Italy, Iran, Kuwait and the UAE.

In 2015, the organization held 11 familiarization trips for tour operators and members of the media. It also conducted nine road shows. Over 500 foreign tour operators approached Visit Russia for information on tourism in Russia last year.