‘All the tourists who have been inconvenienced by the flight delays were provided with meals and accommodation. The residents of Yekaterinburg went back to their homes, of course, while travelers from other towns were given rooms in hotels in the vicinity of Koltsovo Airport,’ the Sales Director of TEZ Tour Yekaterinburg office Larissa Larionova said to UrBC.

Now I-Fly Airlines had two of its flights (RSY-9536 Antalya-Yekaterinburg and RSY-9539 Yekaterinburg-Sharm El Sheikh) delayed by more than twenty-four hours. The second flight in question has already taken off, while the plane from Antalya is to land in Yekaterinburg at 4:00 PM. The delay was caused by some technical deficiencies of the airplanes; the trips were organized by TEZ Tour.

‘Our customers will be compensated for the services they haven’t received. We, in our turn, are going to make out a full invoice for the airline. Our expenses, in fact, even include some hotels’ fines,’ Ms Larionova noted.

Now the federal media claim that I-Fly actually belongs to companies affiliated with TEZ Tour, but Ms Larionova denies such allegations. She insists that the tour operator’s relations with I-Fly are not any different from those it has with any other airline.