Dubai-based budget airline Flydubai will open a new passenger route between Dubai and Samara in Russia on 20 October.

The carrier will operate two flights a week to the city, which will become its second destination in Russia following the start of flights to Yekaterinburg on 16 October (MEED 31:8:10).

Samara is an important regional centre in Russia with the majority of the country’s car manufacturing industry based in the neighbouring city of Tolyati.

“Traffic between Russia and Dubai is developing and we at Flydubai are pleased to be playing our part in ensuring business and leisure travellers from both countries can discover the benefits of travel between our two nations,” says Flydubai chief executive officer Ghaith al-Ghaith.

Samara will become the Flydubai’s 24th destination since it began operations in June 2009. The airline began flights to Latakia, Istanbul, Colombo and Karachi in June 2010 and commenced operations to Irbil in Iraq on 16 July.