Yamal Airlines is expected to join Ural Airlines in operating flights to Tajikistan from Zhukovsky International Airport.

Yamal Airlines will operate regular flights to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan starting from December this year, TASS news agency reports citing the Yamal Airlines director general Vasiliy Kryuk.

The air company will operate these flights from Zhukovsky International Airport, Kryuk was quoted as saying.  

Recall, Ural Airlines began operating flights to Dushanbe and Khujand from the Zhukovsky airport on November 22. 

As it had been reported earlier, following the talks that took place in Moscow on November 7, Tajik and Russian civil aviation authorities agreed to maintain and develop air traffic, and in particular reached an agreement on flights to Tajikistan from Zhukovsky International Airport near Moscow. 

According to the Tajik Embassy in Moscow, the two sides reached a compromise allowing Ural Airlines to operate flights from Zhukovsky International Airport to Dushanbe and Khujand twice a week.

In return, Moscow reportedly agreed to open additional destinations for Tajik air carriers in Ufa, Chelyabinsk, and Barnaul.

Besides, Tajik airlines will be allowed to carry more flights from Khujand to St. Petersburg.

The delegation of the Ministry of Transport (MoT) of Tajikistan arrived in Moscow four days after Russia warned that a dispute between Moscow and Dushanbe over the status of a new Russian international airport may lead to the suspension of all flights to Tajikistan.

Russia's Transport Ministry said on November 3 that it would suspend flights to Tajikistan from November 8 unless Tajik aviation authorities change their position on the Zhukovsky airport near Moscow.

Zhukovsky International Airport was officially opened in May 2016.

Dushanbe called for a revision of existing bilateral agreements on mutual air flights, saying that Zhukovsky is Moscow’s fourth international airport and that it has increased the number of flights from Moscow to Tajikistan.

Meanwhile, Russian civil aviation authorities insisted that Zhukovsky International Airport is not under Moscow’s authority but of the town of Ramenskoye.

Air service between the two countries is currently operated by Tajik air companies Tajik Air and Somon Air, and Russian air carriers UTair, Ural Airlines, Rossiya and S7.

Ural Airlines is an airline based in Yekaterinburg, Russia.  It operates scheduled and chartered domestic and international flights out of Koltsovo International Airport.

Yamal Airlines is an airline based in Salekhard, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia.  It operates regional passenger services and was established in 1997.