New Route of the Day (20 January 2023): flydubai between Dubai and St. Petersburg

flydubai (IATA code FZ) has taken advantage of the fact that the UAE continues to allow flights to and from Russia, to launch daily service between Dubai and St. Petersburg. Passengers on the 4,300-kilometre route will find themselves travelling on the LCCs 737 MAX 8s. Alternatively, they could choose Emirates’s daily service (operated by 777-300ERs) or Aeroflot’s 4-weekly service (flown with A319s).

According to Cirium data, this new route means that flydubai now serves nine destinations in Russia. The other eight destinations are Moscow VKO (served 6-daily), Kazan (8-weekly), Ekaterinburg (daily), Makhachkala and Mineralnye Vody (both 6-weekly), Novosibirsk (5-weekly), Samara and Ufa (both 4-weekly). That makes a total of 89 weekly flights between Dubai and Russia. In pre-pandemic January 2020 there were just 38 weekly flights with Moscow VKO served just 2-daily.

What they said

Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO, flydubai, said: “2022 has been a tremendous year for growth for flydubai. We have taken delivery of 18 new aircraft this year which has enabled us to continue to expand our network and add more capacity on some of our existing routes. We are confident this momentum will continue well into next year thanks to the hard work of everyone at flydubai and the encouraging economic environment Dubai has given us.”

Jeyhun Efendi, SVP Commercial Operations and E-commerce, flydubai, said: “The start of our operations to St Petersburg will give passengers from the market a more convenient option for travel to Dubai and further afield onto the flydubai network to popular holiday destinations such as the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Zanzibar. Customers can enjoy a comfortable travel experience on board our Boeing 737 MAX aircraft which features a lie-flat seat in Business Class, comfortable seats in Economy Class with in-seat Inflight Entertainment and an internationally inspired menu.”