Air Anka Russia Plans Collapse After Permit Rejection
Air Anka cancelled Russia flights after a permit denial, leaving hundreds stranded as summer tickets had already been sold without approval.
Jishan Khan 
Turkish charter carrier Air Anka had its Russia flight permits denied after May 25, 2026, grounding its entire programme to the country. The airline had sold tickets to passengers before receiving permission to fly, leaving hundreds of tourists stranded at airports on both sides.
Selling seats on flights you do not yet have permission to operate is not a scheduling error. It is a governance failure.
What Actually Happened
Despite having no permits for Russia flights beyond May 25, Air Anka had already sold its full cargo capacity to tour operator ANEX Tour through the end of October, effectively committing to an entire summer season of operations on approvals it had not yet secured. Passengers were left waiting at Antalya Airport and airports across Russia as flights were cancelled or delayed, with tour operators caught directly in the fallout, their hotel reservations, transfer planning, and package tour logistics all disrupted alongside the flights themselves.
Russia's aviation regulator Rosaviation confirmed that Air Anka's requests for new flight permits, submitted in agreement with Turkish aviation authorities, had not been approved. The regulator has not detailed the specific reasons for the rejection.
A Young Airline That Moved Too Fast
Air Anka was founded in 2021 and is based in Izmir, specialising in charter flights and aircraft leasing. It operates just two Airbus A330-200s, making the scale of its Russia ambitions, a full summer programme sold to multiple tour operators, a significant overreach relative to the regulatory groundwork it had in place. The Türkiye-Russia charter corridor is high-volume and high-demand, particularly for Antalya-bound Russian tourists, but it is also tightly controlled on both sides. Bilateral slot approvals do not move on airline timelines.
The passengers who bought those tickets did not know any of this. They booked a holiday, showed up at the airport, and found no aircraft waiting.
The Damage Goes Beyond One Airline
The Türkiye-Russia tourism corridor moves millions of passengers annually, with Antalya serving as one of the most popular summer destinations for Russian travellers. Any disruption in charter flights on this route directly affects not just air travel but the entire package tour ecosystem, hotels, transfers, local operators, that depends on reliable seat supply through the summer season.
Air Anka's permit failure is its own problem to resolve. But the tour operators who relied on it, and the passengers who trusted those bookings, are paying the price for a decision that was never theirs to make.
