The ”air war” put off till 10 May
- 30.03.2012, 10:17
Russian and Belarusian airlines are to continue flights in accordance with the summer schedule until 10 May.
As the press-service of the Russian Ministry of transport reported right after the meeting held on 29 March in Moscow, Russian and Belarusian airlines will follow the summer schedule until 10 May 2012 in accordance with the placed orders.
General Secretary of the “union state” of Russia and Belarus Grigoriy Rapota took part in the negotiations. The Russian delegation was headed by Russia’s Vice-minister of transport Valeriy Okulov; the Belarusian delegation – by director of aviation department of Belarus’ ministry of transport and communications Vadzim Melnik.
According to the Russian Ministry of transport, the Russian party suggested excluding limitations on appointed airline actors, flight frequency and capacity from the agreements, and changing the appendix to the air communication agreement on limitations on the appointed Belarusian airline actors’ choice of sites on the Russian territory.
“During the meeting, the flight schedules till 10 May between sites in Russia and Belarus were confirmed. It was decided to complete edition of the agreement on air communication and to negotiate terms of further usage of the air lines by the appointed actors in accordance with passengers’ concerns,” the press-service of Russia’s Ministry of transport reports.
We remind that in the morning on 26 March the air communication between Minsk and Moscow was interrupted. The Federal agency of air transport (Rosaviatsiya) recalled its permit granted to Belavia to operate flights from Minsk to Moscow. During an urgent press-conference, Belavia vice-director Igar Charginets said that the problem had aroused because of the Russian party’s intention to break equality and operate five flights per day instead of four. He remarked that there is an agreement between Belarus’ and Russia’s governments from 1997 on commercial equality in air communication between Minsk and Moscow. Charginets said that it is “commercially inefficient” for Belavia to operate five flights between Minsk and Moscow, the way the Russian party wants to do it. As he pointed out, today the load of the flights is approximately 55% which causes losses to the air company, and a higher number of flights will only deteriorate their efficiency.
The telephone consultations resulted in the agreement to recommence the flights Minsk-Moscow until 29 March and to hold new talks on Thursday.
The Russian Ministry of transport believes that the agreement on air communication between Russia and Belarus contradicts the agreement on the single economic space and the norms of the Customs Union, Vice-minister Valeriy Okulov told journalists on 27 March.