newstodate.aero
Feb 17, 2011 (newstodate): The EU Commission has now increased its efforts to rein in on EU member states' attempts to maintain bi-lateral air services agreements with Russia to gain Siberian over-flight rights.
The latest drive takes the form of 'letters of formal notice' as the start of infringement procedures against Cyprus, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain.
Similar letters were sent to Austria, Finland, France and Germany in October 2010, and to Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden and the UK in January 2011.
The Commission is now assessing the compliance with EU law of the remaining Member States' bilateral aviation agreements with Russia.
The view of the European Commission is that air transport agreements must treat all EU airlines equally and respect antitrust rules.
Otherwise some EU airlines may be treated less favorably than their direct competitors or face paying unreasonable additional charges which can get passed on to consumers in higher air fares.
The fact that EU airlines have to pay to fly over Siberia on their way to Asian destinations can not only make the flights more expensive, but can also lead to unfair competition between EU and non-EU airlines.
The charges, estimated to be around USD500 mio annually, are collected by Aeroflot that retains some USD300 mio, returning the remainder to Russia's Federal Air Navigation Authority and to the Federal Air Traffic Agency.
EU and Russia earlier reached an agreement on the abolition of the charges by 2013, but Russia has since refused to ratify the agreement unless admitted into the WTO.
The latest drive takes the form of 'letters of formal notice' as the start of infringement procedures against Cyprus, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain.
Similar letters were sent to Austria, Finland, France and Germany in October 2010, and to Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden and the UK in January 2011.
The Commission is now assessing the compliance with EU law of the remaining Member States' bilateral aviation agreements with Russia.
The view of the European Commission is that air transport agreements must treat all EU airlines equally and respect antitrust rules.
Otherwise some EU airlines may be treated less favorably than their direct competitors or face paying unreasonable additional charges which can get passed on to consumers in higher air fares.
The fact that EU airlines have to pay to fly over Siberia on their way to Asian destinations can not only make the flights more expensive, but can also lead to unfair competition between EU and non-EU airlines.
The charges, estimated to be around USD500 mio annually, are collected by Aeroflot that retains some USD300 mio, returning the remainder to Russia's Federal Air Navigation Authority and to the Federal Air Traffic Agency.
EU and Russia earlier reached an agreement on the abolition of the charges by 2013, but Russia has since refused to ratify the agreement unless admitted into the WTO.