Suspension of Turkey flights costs Russian airports heavily
By Associated Press
Feb 9, 2016 10:09 AM CST

MOSCOW (AP) — A top official at Russia's busiest airport says the halt or reduction of flights to Turkey, Ukraine and Egypt over the past three months has cost the country's airports six billion rubles ($77 million).

Denis Nuzhdin, the deputy CEO of Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, was quoted by state news agency Tass as saying Tuesday that about half the loss comes from Russia's decision to halt charter flights to Turkey in December following Turkey's shooting down of a Russian warplane that it claimed violated its airspace.

Russia halted all flights to Egypt in November following the bombing of a Russian passenger plane that had taken taken off from an Egyptian resort, killing all 224 aboard. Ukraine and Russia halted air connections in October.