Russian domestic flights rise in March as international links suffer

Russian airspace data indicates that the number of domestic services increased during March, even as coronavirus restrictions badly affected international traffic. Figures from the state air traffic management corporation show that domestic flights rose by over 11% to more than 73,000 last month. But the number of international services was down by nearly 37% including a 40% drop in transit flights through Russian airspace. The corporation says that Russian air traffic controllers handled 115,200 flights during March, a reduction of close to 13%. For each of the first 2 months of the year the figure had increased by more than 7%, and overall numbers stayed flat for the first quarter. Russian authorities suspended scheduled and charter flights to and from foreign destinations March 27. <br/>