Russian airline Transaero is starting direct flights on the Moscow-Amritsar-Moscow route from tomorrow.
The flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be operated by Boeing 767 from Domodedovo International Airport.
Transaero opened its first route to India in 2003 connecting Moscow and Goa. Since 2005 it also connects Goa from St Petersburg.
One of the largest airlines in Russia, Transaero serves about 160 routes to more than 50 countries. It operates 11 types of airplanes including B-747s, B767s and B737s.
Tranaero will compete with Uzbek (HY) & Turkmenistan (T5) airways offering low fare. They have good connection to Europe via DME (by far the best airport in Russia) and also to YYZ & YUL. Already, agents in Toronto area are offering very attractive fares for YYZ-ATQ on UN. Possible headache for AI on this route....
Since I have used ATQ quite frequently in those early years, I feel sad seeing HY & T5 gradually loosing out...they were the pioneers to bring ATQ in the forefront (made ATQ a viable alternative to Punjabi population compared to DEL). I remember a time when only HY, T5 & IC (DEL-ATQ-SHARJAH) flew to ATQ and the airport was quite primitive.