Air Malta will increase its seat capacity by 50 per cent to and from Russia this summer.

It is committed to floating more than 82,700 seats to St Petersburg and to Moscow’s Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports.

Air Malta’s chief commercial officer Philip Saunders made the announcement during a speech at ITB fair in Berlin, one of the leading European travel trade fairs.

Following strong demand from Russia, the airline seized the opportunity and this summer will be operating 92 additional flights to the Russian airports.

“This season we expect to generate over 7,000 more return passengers than last summer, generating new tourism opportunities between the two countries,” Mr Saunders said. Air Malta’s flights to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport are code-shared with its Russian airline partner, Aeroflot.

The Maltese airline had started charter operations to Moscow and St Petersburg in June 1996 and over the past 10 years the market has grown substantially and generated nearly 370,000 passengers.

Last year Air Malta carried 50,000 scheduled passengers to and from Russia, an increase of 16 per cent over the previous year.

For more information visit www.airmalta. com, call its international call centre on +356 21 66 22 11 or visit its sales office at Malta International Airport.