Flights out of Russia are sold out after Putin activates reserves

• One-way flights out of Russia are rocketing in price and selling out fast.
• President Vladimir Putin ordered the immediate call-up of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine.
• Flights from Moscow to Istanbul via Turkish Airlines were either all booked or unavailable until Sunday.

After President Vladimir Putin ordered the immediate call-up of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine, one-way flights out of Russia are skyrocketing in price and selling out quickly.

Putin’s announcement, made in an early-morning television address on Wednesday, fueled concerns that some men of fighting age would be denied the right to leave the country.

Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defence, stated that the call-up would be limited to those with professional military experience, and that students and conscripts would not be called up.

The Kremlin declined to comment on whether the borders would be closed to those subject to the mobilisation order, instead asking for patience while the law is clarified.

According to Google Trends, the phrase “leave Russia” was searched 100 times more than usual in the morning.

There was also an increase in searches for Aviasales, Russia’s most popular flight booking site.

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According to Aviasales data, direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul, Turkey, and Yerevan, Armenia, both of which allow Russians to enter without a visa, were sold out on Wednesday.

As of 14:15 Moscow time, flights from Moscow to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines were either fully booked or unavailable until Sunday (11:15 GMT).

Some stopover routes, such as those from Moscow to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, were also unavailable, and the cheapest flights to Dubai cost more than 300,000 roubles ($5,000) – roughly five times the average monthly wage.

According to Google Flights data, typical one-way fares to Turkey have risen to nearly 70,000 roubles ($1,150) from just over 22,000 roubles a week ago.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines announced on its website that flights to Istanbul, which has become an important travel hub to and from Russia, are fully booked until Saturday. The next AirSerbia flight to Belgrade was scheduled for September 26.

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