DDemand for seats on private jets has skyrocketed in Moscow after Vladimir Putin ordered the first mobilization since World War II and wealthy Russians seek a way out of the country amid reports authorities plan to shut down borders to men of military age.
Passengers are reportedly heading mainly to Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, which allow Russians to enter visa-free. They pay between £20,000 and £25,000 for a seat on a private jet, while the price of renting an eight-seater jet ranges from £80,000 to £140,000, which is several times more expensive than the normal fare .
“The situation is absolutely crazy right now,” said Yevgeny Bikov, director of an aircraft brokerage firm, Your Charter. “We received 50 requests a day; now it’s about 5,000.
The Kremlin’s decision to announce a partial mobilization led to a rush of serving-age men to leave the country, triggering a new, perhaps unprecedented, brain drain. Kilometer-long traffic jams formed at Russian border crossings, while most one-way commercial airline tickets sold out for days to come.
Bikov said his company has started chartering larger commercial planes in an effort to meet demand and drive down prices. “But we just can’t find enough seats for everyone,” he said, adding that the cheapest seat on a chartered commercial plane to Yerevan cost around 200,000 rubles ($3,000). £).
FlightWay, which offers private jet flights, said it is seeing an increase in requests for one-way flights to Armenia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Dubai. “The demand has increased 50 times,” said Eduard Simonov, the company’s head.
He said the availability of jets for hire was severely limited after the EU and UK introduced sanctions against Russia shortly after the start of the conflict that banned the hire or insurance of planes to be used in Russia.
“All European private jet companies have exited the market. There is more demand than supply now and prices have exploded compared to six months ago,” Simonov said.
It’s not just the very wealthy who are looking to use private jets, with some companies chartering planes to transport their male staff. According to Russian outlet Kommersant, a video game design company in Moscow chartered an entire flight to get its employees out of the country.
“We’re getting a whole new clientele, businesses as well as people who’ve never flown privately before,” Simonov said. “There are many who still had some money left and are looking to escape.”
There are widespread fears in Russia that the Kremlin is considering closing its borders this week.
Independent human rights groups said that since Sunday border guards at Russia’s only operational crossing point with Georgia have blocked some people from exiting, citing the Mobilization Law.
Asked about the possibility of border closures during a call with reporters on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “I don’t know anything about it. For the moment, no decision has been made on this subject. »
Russia was already expected to lose 15% of its millionaires this year, according to a study, as its wealthiest citizens move abroad. Mobilization is likely to deepen this exit, potentially exacerbating the damage to the Russian economy.
“Most of our young male clients left when Putin announced the mobilization last week,” said an employee of a luxury concierge service company in Moscow. “I used to call restaurants and bars on the Patriarch’s Ponds to reserve tables for them,” he said, referring to an upscale neighborhood in central Moscow. “Now all I do is scroll through flight aggregators to get the last plane seat for them in Yerevan.”
The exodus of the wealthy and powerful from Russia could fuel some of the anger seen in poorer parts of the country that seem to be disproportionately affected by conscription.
A recent phone prank involving Peskov’s son underscored the belief of many that senior Russian officials and their children will not be drafted to fight in Ukraine.
In the call, orchestrated by two activists linked to jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Nikolai Peskov is heard saying he will ‘obviously not’ enlist in the army when asked to report to the police station military at 10 a.m. the next day.
“You have to understand that it’s not right for me to be here. I have to solve this on another level, ”said Nikolai Peskov.
Asked about the phone call, her father said he was “aware” of it and claimed the full transcript had not been released.
The Guardian has seen evidence that the son of a prominent Duma member, a civil servant who frequently makes anti-Western and patriotic statements, left the country on a flight to Istanbul on Saturday. According to text messages reviewed by the Guardian, the Duma deputy escorted his son to a Moscow airport to ensure he would be allowed out of the country.
“The Great Escape,” said a Snapchat story sent to a private group by the son on the plane to Turkey.
