newstodate.aero
Sep 03, 2013 (newstodate): What is the status of negotiations between the EU Commission and Russia on the issue of abolition of the overflight charges levied on western airlines' flights over Siberia?
Russian media report that the charges will be abolished by 2014, as agreed upon - but they will be transformed instead into higher navigation charges collected by a new institution, and not by Aeroflot as is the case with the overflight charges - leaving the burdens on western airlines unchanged.
Little information comes out of the EU Commission:
-There is nothing I can add besides the gossiping in some Russian newspapers about the replacement of royalites by ATM charges, responds Klaus Winkler, EU Commission Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, Directorate Aviation and International Transport Affairs, to a email inquiry by newstodate.
-We find this strange: Does EU really have no ambitions for an offensive on this issue? Is the topic not on a high-level agenda? Does the industry not press for a solution any more? Is the EU Commission really only a paper tiger? asks newstodate.
-This is sensitive business which we develop internally. You will understand that there are limits in what we communicate to the press, replies Mr Winkler.
Russian media report that the charges will be abolished by 2014, as agreed upon - but they will be transformed instead into higher navigation charges collected by a new institution, and not by Aeroflot as is the case with the overflight charges - leaving the burdens on western airlines unchanged.
Little information comes out of the EU Commission:
-There is nothing I can add besides the gossiping in some Russian newspapers about the replacement of royalites by ATM charges, responds Klaus Winkler, EU Commission Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, Directorate Aviation and International Transport Affairs, to a email inquiry by newstodate.
-We find this strange: Does EU really have no ambitions for an offensive on this issue? Is the topic not on a high-level agenda? Does the industry not press for a solution any more? Is the EU Commission really only a paper tiger? asks newstodate.
-This is sensitive business which we develop internally. You will understand that there are limits in what we communicate to the press, replies Mr Winkler.