Ministry of Transport: “open skies” in Pulkovo for the Middle East and Asia should be mutual

Given the restriction of airspace by unfriendly countries for Russian carriers, the provision of unlimited flight rights without receiving “reciprocal” steps is inappropriate, Kommersant was told in response to a request for “open skies” in St. Petersburg. Previously, as reported by “b”Pulkovo asked to remove restrictions on air traffic agreements for airlines from the CIS, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

At the same time, the Ministry of Transport does not refuse to further consider the issue. A Kommersant source in the department reported the day before that the issue could be agreed upon by winter. Officially, the department emphasized that they would keep in mind “the need to create an opportunity for airports to increase the number of foreign flights served and thereby increase their profits.”

At the same time, the department promised to take into account the interests of Russian carriers when making a decision. In the event that specific requests are received from foreign carriers for flights to Pulkovo in excess of the established restrictions, the Ministry of Transport, they added, “will consider them in the prescribed manner, respecting the interests of the industry, while defending the interests of domestic airlines.”

The ministry noted that intergovernmental agreements on air communication with the countries of the Middle East and Asia allow foreign airlines to start flights to the Russian Federation “literally the next day after submitting an application.” “The absence of flights speaks of the economic inexpediency of such flights,” the department concluded. Pulkovo noted in this regard that liberalization can attract foreign passenger traffic only if a visa-free regime is introduced for friendly countries and problems with payments are resolved.

Experts noted that Russian carriers would not lose their share of passenger traffic from St. Petersburg, but sources close to the Aeroflot group still expressed concern about possible negative consequences. The Ministry of Transport concluded that when considering the issue of introducing an open skies regime, airports need to “carry out work on a thorough market analysis, create attractive conditions for airlines and, first of all, invite domestic airlines to operate flights.”

Read more about Pulkovo’s request to the Ministry of Transport – in the publication “Kommersant” “Pulkovo pulls the sky to the East”.

Aigul Abdullina