Pegas Fly (Orenburg) has launched flights from Zhukovsky to Jinan, the first Chinese service for both the airport and the airline.

The Russian airline launched the 2x weekly service on December 11 and flights are being operated with a B767-300, the airport said in a statement.

Pegas Fly intends to expand the Chinese network from Zhukovsky in the summer. According to the airline's plans, the planned network will include a total of over ten flights per week to Jinan, Guangzhou, Xi'an Xianyang, Chengdu Shuangliu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo and Taiyuan. Both the number of destinations and the frequencies can be further expanded in the future, the airline said.

The plans are based on the success of the seasonal service to Xi'an operated during summer 2017, the carrier said. Pegas Fly hopes that the steady growth of the number of Chinese tourists coming to Russia will continue.

"Load factors of flights on the route Zhukovsky-Xi'an were close to 100%. This fully demonstrated the high level of demand for air communication between China and Russia. Negotiations with representatives of China’s tour operators revealed their interest in significantly expanding this program", airport's operator's Ramport Aero CEO Tomas Vaisvila said in a statement.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Pegas Fly is currently the second largest operator at Zhukovsky, trailing behind Ural Airlines (U6, Ekaterinburg). The airline operates 11x weekly departures and holds a 28.3% market share by capacity at the fourth airport serving the Moscow agglomeration.