newstodate.aero
MAR 14, 2005 (newstodate): The EU Commission has today announced plans for boosting negotiations with Russia towards reaching an EU-Russia aviation agreement.
Among the top-priority issues involved is the establishing of a transition period for the phasing-out of Siberian overflight payments by 2013.
-The bilateral aviation relations of the EU Member States have long been hampered by such issues as limited market access and restrictive agreements, difficulties for Russian-built aircraft to meet EU safety and environmental standards, and above all the commercially-damaging and discriminatory Russian scheme requiring EU carriers to make payments for flying over Russian territory towards destinations in China or Japan, the commission says in a paper issued today.
-The prospect of creating new commercial opportunities and establishing new areas of cooperation in air transport between the EU and Russia, the new EU competence in external aviation policy, as well as the need to bring existing bilateral aviation relations into conformity with EU law mean that the time is ripe for Europe to adopt a coherent and wide-ranging approach to aviation relations with the Russian Federation.
Air traffic between EU and Russia has increased significantly during the last ten years, with weekly frequencies between EU Member States and Russia up from 279 in 1992 to 465 in 2003.
For the European Union, the importance of the aviation relations with Russia has increased with the accession of the new Member States and the considerable growth of the aviation sector in Russia - up 9.9 percent in 2003 for passenger transport.
Among the top-priority issues involved is the establishing of a transition period for the phasing-out of Siberian overflight payments by 2013.
-The bilateral aviation relations of the EU Member States have long been hampered by such issues as limited market access and restrictive agreements, difficulties for Russian-built aircraft to meet EU safety and environmental standards, and above all the commercially-damaging and discriminatory Russian scheme requiring EU carriers to make payments for flying over Russian territory towards destinations in China or Japan, the commission says in a paper issued today.
-The prospect of creating new commercial opportunities and establishing new areas of cooperation in air transport between the EU and Russia, the new EU competence in external aviation policy, as well as the need to bring existing bilateral aviation relations into conformity with EU law mean that the time is ripe for Europe to adopt a coherent and wide-ranging approach to aviation relations with the Russian Federation.
Air traffic between EU and Russia has increased significantly during the last ten years, with weekly frequencies between EU Member States and Russia up from 279 in 1992 to 465 in 2003.
For the European Union, the importance of the aviation relations with Russia has increased with the accession of the new Member States and the considerable growth of the aviation sector in Russia - up 9.9 percent in 2003 for passenger transport.