MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia resumed regular domestic passenger flights to the southern city of Krasnodar on Wednesday, fully reopening a key regional airport that was closed for more than three years due to security concerns linked to the war in Ukraine.

A fully loaded 183-seat Airbus A321 from Moscow operated by Russian flag carrier Aeroflot landed in the city of over 1.5 million people after a flight of about 3-1/2 hours.

That was about 90 minutes longer than flights before the war, as planes now avoid the airspace near the front line in Ukraine and fly via Volgograd and the Black Sea coast.

Russia closed 11 major airports in its southern and western regions, including those in Kursk, Simferopol and Rostov-on-Don, following the start of its military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022.

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