Welcome to my take on the quite popular series of topics here on IFC, where members challenge themselves to fly some interesting routes and visit countries that are sometimes underrepresented. I thought why not challenge yourself as well so I decided to fly to every federal subject in the Russian Federation.
There are 85 different Krais, Republics, Oblasts, Autonomous Okrugs and Oblasts in Russia. Those are divided into 8 federal districts and I’ve made it my challenge to visit every single one of them (except very few which lack any scheduled air services or have no active commercial airports)
Surrounding the Russian capital Moscow, the Moscow Oblast (also known as Podmoskovye) is home to around 7,5 million people being the second most populous federal subject in Russia. It is also home to 3 of the four major airports serving the Greater Moscow region; Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and the lesser known Zhukovsky Airport which has one of the longest runways in continental Europe with a total length of 4,600m (15,100ft).
I recommend visiting the following places - Vladivostok (on the Airbus A330), Khabarovsk (on the A359), Petro-Kamchatsky (on the B777). It is better to carry out all flights in Aeroflot Russian Airlines livery, and in areas closer to Moscow it is better to fly with S7, since they have more flights
Kaliningrad Oblast is Russia’s westernmost administrative district and situated at the Baltic coast bordering Poland and Lithuania. It has a population of just under 1 million inhabitants. Fun Fact: Baltiysk Port in Kaliningrad Oblast is the only Russian Baltic port which is ice-free year round.
