Russia has again extended the right to cross Russian airspace to Lufthansa Cargo (LH Cargo) until 31 March 2008. The deadline set by the Russians originally was supposed to end 29 February.
Now a further extension was conceded in order not to disrupt the ongoing bilateral talks between the German and Russian governments on this politically sensitive issue. So far these meetings have been held in an “atmosphere of conciliation and mutual understanding,” stated a spokesman from Berlin’s transport ministry speaking to Payload Asia.
The talks are however, behind schedule as a result of elections in Russia and the forming of a new administration there. The next meeting between the two parties is now scheduled for March.
Last October Russia suddenly banned all intercontinental east-west flights of Lufthansa Cargo from over-flying Russian airspace, leaving the carrier no choice but to circumvent the Siberian territory, until Moscow relented to German protests. This provisional concession was granted to the carrier until the end of February.
The background of the quarrel is Moscow’s demand that LH Cargo to shift the traffic from their central Asian hub at Astana in Kazakhstan to either Krasnoyarsk or Novosibirsk in Siberia. LH Cargo so far rejected this claim by emphasizing the poor infrastructure of both Siberian airports that poses no CAT system, proper warehousing facilities nor adequate hotels for accommodating crews.
Other key points on the agenda of the bilateral negotiations are the high royalties Moscow forces LH Cargo to pay for using Siberian air space and the possible time frame for moving the operation from Astana to one of the Russian airports.
“We are optimistic to reach an agreement for the whole package in due time,” the transport ministry spokesman said. Meanwhile, the new joint venture carrier set up by Lufthansa and DHL – AeroLogic – will not be troubled by this issue because unlike the MD-11 freighters used by LH Cargo, the B777F to be deployed by AeroLogic do not need a technical stop for refueling as they can fly 9,000 km non-stop with maximum load.
