Indonesia Planning Direct Flights to Russia’s Far East

Indonesia is planning to launch direct flights from Jakarta to Vladivostok, with transit routes on to other major Russian travel destinations

Vladivostok, along with Khabarovsk, is one of two largest cities in Russia’s Far East, and a major maritime port on the Sea of Japan. It is located 45km from the border with China.

According to the latest reports, Indonesia is now planning to launch direct passenger air service from Jakarta to Vladivostok, with transit routes on to other major travel destinations in the Russian Federation.

“We will open direct air traffic (to Russia’s Far East) with Jakarta,” Berlian Helmi, deputy mission chief at Indonesia’s embassy in Russia said in yesterday’s interview to Russian media.

“First, we’ll open a flight between Jakarta and Vladivostok, then through Vladivostok to Moscow, Bashkortostan, Nizhny Novgorod and Tomsk,” Indonesian diplomat added.

Indonesia is launching the flight because “Russia is now looking to the East, so we are also looking towards Russia,” Helmi said.

According to Mr. Helmi, all the necessarily agreements with the Russian side have already been reached and Indonesia is ready to begin flights to Vladivostok as soon as the local airport confirms that it is prepared to accept them.

Jakarta and Vladivostok are separated by some 3,700 miles (6,000km), whereas the distance between the Indonesian capital and Moscow is more than 5,600 miles (9,000km).

Russia also restored its air links with Georgia, that it suspended in the summer of 2019, as a retaliation for anti-Russian protests in Georgia’s capital city of Tbilisi. Few days ago, however, Russian dictator Putin signed decrees that ended the flight ban and visa regime with Georgia.

First Russian plane in four years landed in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi yesterday and its arrival was met by anti-Russia protesters at the airport.

Also, according to Russian government officials, passenger air traffic between Russia and Cuba would resume beginning July 1, 2023.

Russia’s Aeroflot is initially planning to launch two flights a week to the Cuban resort of Varadero.

Flights between Russia and Cuba were halted after the launch of Russia’s unprovoked brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.