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Vlad Avia sets charter flights to NMI
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Posted on Dec 10 2008
The Russian airline Vladivostok Avia has responded to a growing demand from travelers in eastern Russia who want to go to Saipan, Tinian, and Rota by setting up charter flights to Saipan beginning this month.
Vladivostok Avia, also called Vlad Avia, has set up three trial flights to see if there is sufficient demand to operate regularly scheduled flights from Vladivostok direct to Saipan.
The first of these charters, scheduled for Dec. 28, 2008, is already fully booked. The mid-January 2009 charter is more than half full, and the third flight in late January also has a large number of bookings by Russians wanting to come to the warm, tropical isles of the Marianas.
Flights will bring tourists from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok where they will add more passengers and then fly directly to Saipan International Airport. Fights will be operated with state-of-the-art Tupalov TU204-300, 166-seat aircraft.
“Vlad Avia was one of several tourism industry companies the Marianas Visitors Authority met with last year in Vladivostok, and we warmly welcome this growing interest in our islands,” said Perry Tenorio, managing director of MVA. “We are looking forward to receiving more travelers to Saipan, Tinian, and Rota from Russia in 2009.
“With the possible exclusion of the Russia and China markets in the joint Guam-CNMI visa waiver program, the MVA would like to once again echo the concern of the Governor and legislative leadership of the dire effect this would have on the islands’ economy. That said, MVA and its travel partners will continue to promote travel from Russia, as in China, for as long as we are allowed to so,” said Tenorio.
The Mariana Islands, three hours travel from most cities in Japan, are served from Japan by Northwest Airlines. From Korea, Asiana Airlines provides daily direct flights from Seoul and four times a week from Busan. [B][I](MVA)[/I][/B]
