On Monday, a source in the Russian civil aviation industry told Sputnik that Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) had sent a telegram to Russian airline companies about the possible suspension of charter flights to Turkey due to the complicated internal political situation in this country.
"We have seen media reports about a possible suspension of charter flights from Russia, though, we have no other information about this issue. The Russian aviation authorities have made no official statements," the official said.
Turkey faced a decrease in the number of tourists coming to its resort destinations in 2016 after the Russian government imposed a ban on charter flights to Turkey and the selling of tour packages to the country over the downing of a Russian military aircraft by a Turkish jet in November 2015.
The situation started to change in June 2016 when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he apologized for the downing of the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft over Syria and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident.
On June 30, Putin signed a decree instructing the government to take steps aimed at lifting restrictions on tourist travel to Turkey as well as on charter flights between Russia and Turkey. The first charter flight to Turkey took place on September 2.
