As tourism in Crimea is expected to surge, flights to the contested peninsula plummet

Crimea is expected to get 20 percent more tourists this summer (a total of 6 million people), but airlines are cutting service to the peninsula by more than 550,000 passengers. Market experts attribute the cutbacks to three factors: a new bridge connecting Crimea to Russia, rising jet fuel costs, andhigher taxes introduced at the Simferopol airport on June 1.

The new tariffs have reportedly raised flight maintenance costs by 50 percent. Airport officials say the higher taxes are necessary to raise money for infrastructural improvements, and Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has stood by the tariff hikes.

The Ukrainian government, which claims sovereignty over Crimea, considers Russian flights to the peninsula to be illegal. The only way to visit Crimea legally, in Kiev’s view, is with special permission, through checkpoints located on Ukrainian soil. Kiev has also condemned the recently opened bridge that connects Russia and Crimea. Most of the world does not recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.