MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2020) Russia's low-cost airline Pobeda canceled two flights from Turkey to airlift Russians stranded by the coronavirus shutdown after the Russian civil aviation agency voided its permission for the rescue jets to leave, a source in the know told Sputnik on Monday.
"Rosaviatsiya has withdrawn the permission granted to Pobeda to conduct two rescue flights from Turkey. The air carrier has been forced to cancel two rescue flights from Antalya to Moscow, planned for March 31 and April 1," the source, who is close to the airline, said.
Rosaviatsiya did not say who it wanted to entrust with the operation to bring back Russians stuck in Turkey amid the pandemic, the source added.
The airline's press office told reporters that some 400 Russian travelers had registered for the flight to Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport from the Turkish resort city.
"Unfortunately, we have been denied Rosaviatsiya's permission to operate return flights from Antalya to Sheremetyevo... Around 400 Russian citizens are waiting for the Pobeda jet in Antalya. We cannot bring them home," a spokesperson said.
The Russian civil aviation authority has designated Sheremetyevo as the only air hub in Moscow accepting Russian returnees. The number of entries per day has been capped at 500. Designated airports elsewhere in the country have limited the number of arrivals to 200.
