Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, May 17, 2007
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, May 17, 2007 ePaper |
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Airlines Industry & Economy - Foreign Trade India plans air services talks with Russia Ashwini Phadnis
Aviation woes No Indian carrier currently operates to any Russian airport, while Russian airlines are allowed to operate 46 weekly flights to various destinations. Russia is pressing for only 46 Indian flights a week to overfly their air space, arguing that this was their interpretation of the air services agreement.
New Delhi May 16 With aviation links with Russia coming under strain, India has proposed holding of two days of bilateral air services talks with Russia from June 14. The move comes in the backdrop of a diplomatic stand off that saw both threatening to withdraw permission to their respective airlines to operate to either country from Tuesday (May 15). The standoff ended when Russia allowed Indian carriers to over fly its airspace till June 15.
Using air space
Official sources said that the genesis of the problem was that no Indian carrier currently operates to any Russian airport, while Russian airlines are allowed to operate 46 weekly flights to various destinations including Delhi, Mumbai, Goa and Amritsar. Air India and Jet Airways, however, regularly use Russian air space while flying to Western Europe and the UK.
Flights
"Russia was pressing for only 46 Indian flights a week to overfly their air space, arguing that this was their interpretation of the air services agreement. We have written to the Russian side that this interpretation is in contravention of several international treaties and over flight cannot be treated as a part of the air services bilateral," a senior Government official told Business Line. Russia, however, took the plea that since it was not a signatory to some of these international agreements, it was not bound by them, a point that India disputes.
Dispute
The existing agreement with Russia is the most liberal that India has exchanged with any of the other 11 members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It puts a cap on the number of weekly flights that can be operated to each city here. The Russian side is said to be keen to have more flexibility in the implementation of the agreement, although no new wish list has yet been presented, officials said. The current agreement allows Russian airlines to operate 17 weekly services to Delhi including 14 flights from Moscow alone and 11 weekly flights to Mumbai including eight from Moscow. In addition, Russian airlines are entitled to operate a daily service from any point in Russia to Kolkata and Goa and two weekly flights to Amritsar and Ahmedabad. During the air services meeting in Delhi, the Russian delegation also requested for permission to operate services on the Kazan/Baku/Delhi and return sector, within the entitlement for operations to and from Delhi. The Indian delegation noted the request and agreed to revert through a separate diplomatic communication.
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