- Russian low-cost carrier Pobeda is launching flights between St Petersburg and London Stansted Airport in October.
Budget travellers will benefit from the opening of the only low-cost connection between the UK and Russia next month, when the no-frills subsidiary of Aeroflot, Russia's state-owned flag-carrier, enters the country-pair.
Pobeda will launch flights between St Petersburg and London Stansted on October 12th, with one-way flights starting at just £35.
Despite being within flying range of mid-sized narrow-body jets, the country-pair has not been served by any low-cost carriers since EasyJet closed its Moscow routes from London Gatwick and Manchester airports three years ago.
Those routes had been launched in 2013 after Britain's BMI was absorbed by British Airways - a merger that cleared the way for a new UK airline to enter the country-pair.
Traffic rights between Russia and the UK are governed by an archaic set of bilateral restrictions that limit the number of carriers in the market to just two on either side. British Airways, Aeroflot and Transaero had been designated alongside EasyJet.
Transaero ceased operations in 2015 amid a downturn in the Russian economy, leaving the two flag-carriers as the only active operators.
It is not clear if a second UK carrier will now seek to launch flights following Pobeda's entry.
Irish-registered Ryanair operates a huge base at London Stansted Airport and has previously voiced interest in serving Russia - even going so far as to secure traffic rights for services from Dublin in 2013. Despite launching flights to neighbouring Ukraine this September, however, Russia remains absent from its network.
A handful of other European low-cost carriers currently operate limited services to Russia, including Hungary's Wizz Air and Spain's Vueling.
Pobeda launched services in 2014 as part of a government-led initiative to reduce the cost of air travel in Russia. An earlier state-owned low-cost carrier, Dobrolet, which briefly operated flights in the same year, was shut down after being hit with sanctions following Moscow's annexation of Crimea.