It turned out when air tickets will become cheaper and direct flights abroad will appear

October promises us a drop in prices for air travel and other good aviation news – this is the forecast of experts in the domestic tourism industry. Having found out its details – when and how much cheaper air tickets will be and where and how much we will fly straight – we figured out what this will give the Russian tourist, both a short-term “package traveler” and planning to spend at least a winter abroad.

In the week from September 21 to 28, the cost of a one-way ticket from Moscow to Istanbul per person reached 1 million rubles. And at some point, online ticket search services completely hung silently in response to requests from Istanbul and Dubai: tickets were swept away even at such prices.

– There are no tickets to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Emirates and Turkey, – employees of ground services share. – But for each flight, someone will not come, so we have a whole “bench of spare passengers” in the queue for an “extra ticket”. But they don’t sit at the airport, they just sign up.

– Prices for air tickets from the Russian Federation abroad will begin to decline from the first days of October and will return to normal by about October 15, – analysts of one of the largest domestic tour operators suggest. – But in the coming days, do not expect adequate prices anywhere. Excitement and scarcity.

We check: indeed, from October 1, network aggregators do not hang at a loss from the request “Istanbul”, but offer options. There is even a direct flight: one way one costs not 1 million rubles, but only 452 thousand – it has fallen in price by more than half! There are no direct flights from Moscow to Dubai even at the beginning of October, but connecting flights (via Tashkent, Doha, Delhi) have fallen in price from 70 thousand rubles for each leg of the journey, depending on the air carrier. But on October 15, you can already fly from Moscow straight to Dubai for only 72,500 rubles (for one one way). By mid-October, judging by the responses of online booking platforms, tariffs for cities in the post-Soviet space that reach up to 500 thousand rubles and even higher are fixed today: from October 15, you can fly to Tashkent (one way) for 17,200 rubles, Yerevan for 15700, to Alma-Ata for 26500 rubles direct and for only 11900 rubles, if with a transfer.

– And what about this tourist? – I’m interested in the capital’s travel agency. – After mid-October, it is already cool in these areas. And now, when there is still a velvet season, tickets are unaffordable. By the way, how do you send tourists now? And where?

– The ski season starts in December in Armenia and Kazakhstan. Many people are surprised, they have forgotten that Kazakhstan, for example, is famous for its high-mountain skating rink Medeo, and winter sports competitions were held in their mountains in Soviet times. Transcaucasia – Azerbaijan and Armenia – have well-equipped ski resorts of a completely European level. There are three normal ski resorts in Iran near the capital, and a Moscow-Tehran round-trip ticket costs only 13 thousand rubles and only 3 hours on the way. Another thing is that there are riots in the last three countries now, but they will surely subside by winter. Now we send tourists everywhere we usually go, but we keep reservations for blocks of seats on planes at our own prices. But easy-going vacationers now have a new sport – hunting for abandoned tours.

It turns out that due to partial mobilization, many not only those who are subject to it, but also their loved ones are afraid to fly away. And tours are canceled at the last moment, losing money.

– We really can’t return anything to them, since we have already transferred money to counterparties – the carrier, hotels, – they explain in the travel agency. – But the tour has already been organized, so we are selling it again, but much cheaper. However, you often have to fly out the very next day.

Since October, according to experts, we are waiting for more encouraging aviation news – new direct flights. In particular, to Nicosia (Northern Cyprus), Kathmandu (Nepal), Goa (India), Bangkok and Phuket (Thailand) and Colombo (Sri Lanka).

– Yes, this is a partially recognized territory, – the travel agency answers the question why Russians need to go to the Turkish part of Cyprus. – But from there you can get to the Greek part and in general to Europe. Neighboring EU countries have tightened checks at land outposts, but when Russian citizens enter the EU not from their own country, but from any other, no one pays special attention to them.

There is already relative clarity about the “new old” direct flights with Sri Lanka: from October 9, there will be flights to Colombo twice a week at a price of 21.3 thousand rubles per person one way. From October 30, the Moscow-Bangkok route will appear 7 times a week, but the price for this flight has not yet been set. From October 1, they promise a direct charter to Thai Phuket. We will fly to the Indian resort state of Goa and Nepal towards the end of October.

– By the beginning of the season they will launch, – they hope in a travel agency specializing in Southeast Asia. – Everything will be in demand, but in its audience. Two-week packers and winterers with a small budget will fly to Goa – it’s cheap and there are a lot of informal entertainment. Nepal is a paradise for lovers of spiritual practices. Those who plan to settle there will also fly to Tai. As a resort, Phuket is more expensive than Goa, and even more so Nepal, but it’s easier to naturalize there: you can stay in the country for 30 days without a visa, and extending it for another month is not only easy, but also pleasant – to leave for a day or two to neighboring Cambodia or Laos at a price of 3,500 baht (5,355 rubles) per person per trip, which are usually organized by local agencies.