Russian airline debuts charter flights to Georgia

A civilian airplane belonging to Russian S7 Airlines took off Monday, starting the first charter flight between Moscow and Tbilisi initiated from the Russian capital for the first time in two years.

The Airbus A319 aircraft with nearly 80 percent of full capacity left from Moscow's Domodedovo airport at 10:40 a.m. Moscow time (0640 GMT), local media reported.

The plane will return from Tbilisi at 2 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) the same day.

S7 Airlines will make charter flights on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Earlier Georgian private airline AIRZENA has already made several charter flights between the two capitals sanctioned by the two governments.

Direct flights between Tbilisi and Moscow were suspended in 2006 over a spy gaffe and resumed for a short time in 2008. They were halted again due to the brief war between Georgia and Russia over Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August 2008.

Source:Xinhua