Transaero has started offering twice-a-week flights from Moscow to Los Angeles, adding a third U.S. city to its nearly 100 destinations.
Transaero is making the 12-hour, 15-minute flight from Domodedovo Airport to Los Angeles on Sundays and Thursdays using a Boeing 777 with 306 seats, the airline said Monday.
Transaero, which already flies between Moscow and the U.S. cities of New York and Miami, has been rapidly expanding. Last month, it ordered four Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners to add to its fleet of more than 80 aircraft and bought an aircraft maintenance station with 240 employees at the airport in Shannon, Ireland.
Transaero is now considering routing its U.S.-bound flights from Russia through the Shannon airport, where passengers could clear U.S. customs and avoid potentially avoid long lines upon arrival in the United States, the Irish Times reported Monday.
Rival Aeroflot also offers nonstop service to Los Angeles from Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, making the trip fives times a week on Airbus A330 aircraft. Aeroflot also has nonstop service to New York and Washington.
Other airlines with nonstop flights between Moscow and the United States include Delta Air Lines (New York and, seasonally, Atlanta), United Airlines (Washington), American Airlines (Chicago) and Singapore Airlines (Houston).
