Airline ticket prices to cities that will host the World Cup next summer have soared over the past week.
Russia is set to host the World Cup in 2018 from June 14 to July 15 in 11 cities, some of which are widely known destinations like Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi.
Demand for flights to host cities is growing fast, especially after FIFA launched the second phase of World Cup ticket sales on Nov. 16. The vast majority of match tickets sold out within 24 hours of going on sale.
Airline ticket costs grew by as much as 40 percent on some routes for dates during the World Cup tournament, the Interfax news agency cited Yanis Dzenis, spokesperson of the Aviasales ticket agency, as saying.
Normally, a ticket to St. Petersburg from Moscow costs roughly 6,000 rubles ($101). But for the World Cup final match on July 15, the same route will cost some 10,370 rubles ($175).
Similarly, it will cost Muscovites 41 percent more to fly to St. Petersburg for the semifinal, and 42 percent more to fly to Kazan for the big matches held there.
Ticket prices to Moscow from other cities grew less significantly — five percent for flights from Yekaterinburg to Moscow, and slightly over 14 percent for flights from Sochi.
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