Belavia (B2, Minsk National) will become the first international carrier to offer scheduled passenger flights to Russia's newest gateway, Zhukovsky, with the launch of a daily return service to its Minsk National hub on September 12.
According to statements in a press release issued by the carrier, Managing Director Anatoly Gusarov, even though the Belarus national carrier already serves Moscow through its Moscow Domodedovo gateway, Ramenskoye, through its cheaper operating costs, will allow it to target more budget-conscious passengers.
"We hope that the fares which we have proposed will allow us to successfully compete with overland transport operators while increasing the attractiveness of air transport as a whole," he said in a statement. "While the flights will be operated once a day, if we see an increase in interest from our passengers, the number of frequencies will increase as well."
Even though it is located roughly 40 kilometres from downtown Moscow, Ramenskoye (also know as Zhukovsky) airport is not, at least for now, considered a gateway airfield to the Russian capital.
As such, carriers such as Air Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek) and Kazakhstan's SCAT Airlines (DV, Shymkent), which had touted themselves as Ramenksoye's original débutantes back in June and August, have had to delay those plans as they await regulatory nods from their own respective governments.
