Demand for seats on private jets has boomed in Moscow after Vladimir Putin ordered the first mobilisation since the second world war and wealthy Russians look for a way out of the country amid reports that authorities plan to close the borders to men of mobilisation age.
Passengers are said to be predominantly heading to Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, which allow Russians visa-free entry. They are paying between £20,000 and £25,000 for a seat on a private plane, while the price to rent an eight-seater jet ranges from £80.000 to £140,000, which is many times more expensive than the normal fare.
“The situation is absolutely crazy at the moment,” said Yevgeny Bikov the director of a broker jet company, Your Charter. “We would get 50 requests a day; now it is around 5,000.”
The Kremlin’s decision to announce a partial mobilisation has led to a rush among men of military age to leave the country, sparking a new, possibly unprecedented brain drain. Miles-long traffic jams have formed at Russia’s border crossings, while most one-way commercial plane tickets have sold out for the coming days. » | Pjotr Sauer | Tuesday, 27 September 2022
