Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot has increased the frequency of flights between New Delhi and Moscow ahead of the summer season, said a representative of the company in New Delhi in a statement on Monday.
Delmos Aviation, the accredited agent for the Russian carrier, said that the weekly frequency of flights on the New Delhi-Moscow route has increased from four to seven, starting Sunday.
“This increase in frequency was long overdue as the number of passengers has increased in good measure. We expect a further surge in student and tourist movement apart from the business visitors,” stated Dr. Naveen Rao, the director of Delmos Aviation.
Aeroflot’s Cargo Department head Oleg Korolev said that the flights would also give a boost to tourism as well as the cargo supply chain between the two nations. He underscored that the Moscow-New Delhi route was one of the “long-established and high-demand routes” on account of surging bilateral trade.
Speaking about the growing commercial ties between the two nations, Anish Khatri, the general manager of Delmos Aviation, said that Indian pharmaceuticals as well as machine tools were in “high demand” in Russia.
“With a cargo capacity of approximately 25 tons per flight, we are open to accepting all special commodities,” Khatri stated.
India and Russia Target $50Bln Annual Trade
As per a brief on India-Russia economic relations published by the Indian Embassy in Moscow, the two partners have revised the annual bilateral trade target for this year to $50 billion.
There's been a surge in energy and commercial cooperation between New Delhi and Moscow since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine last February.
During the India-Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi in December 2021, President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set an annual trade target of $30 billion that was to be achieved by 2025.
The target set by the two leaders was met already last year, as bilateral trade hit a record of $31 billion.
Moreover, the two countries have also been pushing for the full-fledged implementation of trade in local currencies, as both of them look away from the US dollar in the face of problems encountered by companies to continue with the economic exchanges due to Western sanctions.