After more than an eight-month break, Aeroflot Russian Airlines resumes its Moscow – Tokyo route which was temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 in March 2020. According to the Russian air carrier flight schedule, the first flight (numbered as SU 0260) after a long pause will take off from Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) on November 5, 2020, at 10.30 pm (GTM+3).
Initially, Aeroflot planned to operate Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO) – Tokyo Haneda (HND) route once a week while considering increasing the flight frequency to two regular weekly flights on Thursdays and Saturdays, based on the Russian news agency’s TASS report. The airline will operate an almost ten-hour-long flight using an Airbus A330-300 jet.
“From November 5, regular flights to Japan will resume. The first flight to Tokyo is scheduled for November 5, 2020, flights at the first stage will be operated once a week, then twice a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays. The flights back will be operated on Saturdays and Sundays“, claimed Aeroflot in a statement published on October 19, 2020.
However, following the governmental rules, the Russian airline will have to remind its passengers that after returning to Moscow travelers would need to be tested for the COVID-19 within three days post the flight.
Russia banned all international flights at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. At the time, all airlines were allowed to operate repatriation flights only. However, the Russian government has already let air carriers resume operations to a bunch of countries such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Egypt, the UAE, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Cuba.
The Tokyo-based Russian visa center reportedly re-opened in late October 2020.