Travel Notes

Vladivostok has become a “Mecca” for foreign tourist super sealiners. At right, Russia’s eastern port welcomes the Reigning Princess and Norway Wind, carrying a total of 4,200 wealthy tourists from Western Europe, North America, the Middle East, Japan and South Korea.

The government has given its OK to a plan for a bridge linking the Russian mainland with the Far Eastern island of Sakhalin. The plan was developed by the Railway Ministry, headed by Nikolai Aksyonenko. The 10 km bridge and 570 km railway link will take about eight years to build at a cost of $4.5 billion and is expected to break even by 2030. A broad spectrum of government officials have voiced support for the project, from Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov to the liberal German Gref. According to Kasyanov (who presented the project for discussion), “it will be the first such large-scale economic project since the time of the USSR.”

Lufthansa plans to make Tolmachevo airport in Novosibirsk its new base for flights to the Far East, Kommersant daily reported. In 1998, Lufthansa stopped flying to Novosibirsk due to low passenger turnover, but after the beginning of the US military operation in Afghanistan, the company’s flights, which partially crossed the airspace of Afghanistan, were threatened, hence the need to open new routes. Lufthansa is also reportedly considering participation in a tender for reconstruction of Tolmachevo airport.

A British company announced that it won a £10 million contract to outfit the interior of President Vladimir Putin’s new plane. Diamonite Aircraft Furnishings, based in Bristol, signed a one-year contract to outfit the interior of the new IL-96-300 jet that is being designed for Putin by Ilyushin. The Kremlin property department confirmed the contract with Ilyushin and the State Transport Company and said the plane will be ready in a year.

Russian airlines no longer face the threat of a ban on nearly all flights abroad due to a failure to comply with European noise and emission standards. Thanks to a resolution approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Russia was allowed a slow withdrawal of noncompliant aircraft. Yuri Romanenko, secretary of the Russian liaison commission to the ICAO, called the organization’s decision “a big achievement.” “The deadline has been extended and not only for us,” Romanenko said.  Previous regulations spelled out by the ICAO would have banned all but 5-7% of Russia’s 6,540 planes from European airspace starting in April. Russian airlines have acknowledged that just a handful of their Ilyushin-96-300, Tu-204, Tu-214 and upgraded Tu-154s meet the strict requirements, while none of their Tu-134, Il-86 or Il-76 cargo planes qualify. The ICAO resolution, excerpted in the Moscow Times, stipulated: “Admitting that introducing restrictions on use of currently-operating aircraft can increase the spending of airlines and create serious economic difficulties, especially for carriers that do not have financing to upgrade their fleet, ICAO highly recommends ... that countries allow non-compliant aircraft to be gradually decommissioned over a period of at least seven years.”

Seventy thousand Russians fly on Russian airplanes every day (vs. 1.6 million in the US, prior to the September 11 attacks) and, at any given time, 3,000 Russians are in the air (vs. 60,000 Americans), Kommersant weekly reported. Russian civilian aviation carries a passenger pool equaling 17.7% of the Russian population each year (vs. 210% in the US).