Assistant Deputy for Region IV (Europe) Marketing Development II of the Ministry of tourism, Agustini Rahayu, told Antara here on Monday that the first flight carried 316 passengers.
She said the support of the Tourism Ministry is expected to help increase passengers so that the Moscow-Denpasar (Bali) flight seats would always be fully occupied.
The Rossiya Arlines - Aeroflot services use Boeing 777 aircraft with seats consisting of 439 economy class and 21 business class.
The Ministry of Tourism extended its thanks to the Foreign Ministry, the Indonesian Embassy in Russia, airport operator company Angkasa Pura I, Timeslot Management, Air Navigation and other related parties for their support for the opening of the Moscow-Denpasar direct flight.
"We hope that Aeroflot would contribute at least 8,600 Russian tourists to Indonesia until December 2018, or about seven percent of the target of foreign tourist arrivals from Russia," Rahayu said.
According to Rahayu, the arrivals of Russian tourists in Indonesia up to August 2018 amounted to 83,438. Indonesia still needed 43,562 arrivals to reach the target of 127,000 Russian tourists to Indonesia.
Reporting by Zeynita Gibbons
Editing by Andi Abdussalam
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
