The Chukotka Autonomous Area is expanding passenger traffic volumes using aircraft with wheels and skis attached, reports the area's official website.

Chukotka Autonomous Area Governor Roman Kopin said regional flag carrier Chukotavia (Chukotka Airlines) had successfully launched a new stage of operating De Havilland Canada-6 Series 400 Twin Otter planes on two-way flights which have already linked the area's capital with the remote village of Chuvanskoye and the villages of Markovo and Lamutskoye.

"Chukotka has become the first Russian region to launch sustained passenger traffic using aircraft with wheels and skis over the past few decades. This is an important stage of polar aviation development in the context of the Russian Arctic's steady development," Kopin noted.

The governor believes that aircraft with wheel and ski undercarriages will help to reach many more destinations in Chukotka and along inter-regional routes and to enhance transport safety in Chukotka.

"Ski-equipped aircraft will considerably reduce spending from the area budget and local budgets, including that for runway maintenance in remote northern communities," Kopin stressed.

This April, a plane with wheels and skis is to fly direct from Anadyr to the village of Vaegi. Next winter, DHC-6 airliners will reach the villages of Meinypilgyno and Khatyrka in the Anadyr district. On April 6, weekly flights will  begin from Keperveyem to Omolon and Pevek.