Russian Airlines Face Ticket Restrictions amid Partial Mobilization

DALLAS - Following Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilization of the country’s 25 million reservists, Russian airlines are prohibited from selling tickets to males between the ages of 18 and 65.

Only after permission from the Ministry of Defense can tickets be purchased by males who meet the age criterion.

Sold out Tickets

In just minutes after the announcements, there was a spike in ticket sales for foreign destinations, notably to Georgia, Turkey, and Armenia—where Russian citizens are not required to have a visa on entry.

Reports from travel websites such as aviasales.ru state that flights to these countries were sold out in just minutes. In fact, the website of state-owned airline Aeroflot (SU) has no available flights between Moscow and Istanbul for the next three days.

According to The Moscow Times, on Tuesday night ( September 20, 2022) top Google searches included "How to leave Russia" although the speech was set for the following day. This concurs with the high influx of ticket purchases on Wednesday.

Featured image: S7 Airlines A320-214 VQ-BRC. Photo: Kochan Kleps/Airways