Russian authorities have lifted restrictions on Somon Air’s flights to Moscow that were imposed on the Tajik privately owned air carrier on April 3.
A source at the Ministry of Transport of Tajikistan says negotiations between Dushanbe and Moscow over aviation disputed concluded in Moscow on April 28.
“The sides have agreed to lift restrictions on Somon Air’s flights to Moscow,” the source said.
He refrained from giving further details. He also refrained from providing information about the second Russian air carrier to operate flights to Tajikistan from Zhukovsky Airport.
“There are some unsolved issues that will be discussed during meetings that will take place in June and July,” the source added.
Somon Air itself is not yet ready to comment on this information as it has not yet received an official notification of lifting restrictions on its flights to Moscow.
Recall, Tajik private air carrier, Somon Air, had been barred from conduct its four weekly flights from Dushanbe to Moscow and three weekly flights from the northern city of Khujand to Moscow.
The Russian transport ministry said the ban was response to Tajikistan's refusal to allow Russian airline Yamal to fly to Dushanbe from the Zhukovsky airport outside Moscow.
Tajikistan has warned Russia that flights by two Russian airlines to Tajikistan will be barred as of April 6 unless Russia reverses a decision to bar flights to Moscow by Tajikistan's Somon Air.
The Tajik transport ministry sent a note to the Russian Transport Ministry on April 4, saying that it would bar flights by Russia's Ural Airlines and UTair to Dushanbe and the city of Khujand if Russia's March 31 decision on Somon Air was not revoked.
Tajikistan, however, postponed the suspension of flights by Ural Airlines and UTair to Tajikistan after Russia's Transport Ministry invited Tajik aviation authorities to Moscow for negotiations.
The Tajik Transport Ministry said on April 6 that the implementation of the decision to bar the flights was suspended because the sides agreed to hold talks to resolve the situation.
The history of this dispute dates back to early November last year. The two countries faced the threat of suspension of flights in early November because of a dispute between Moscow and Dushanbe over the status of Russia’s Zhukovsky International Airport, which was officially opened in May 2016.
Dushanbe called for a revision of existing bilateral agreements on mutual air flights, saying that Zhukovsky is Moscow’s fourth international airport and that it has increased the number of flights from Moscow to Tajikistan.
The Russian civil aviation authorities insisted that the Zhukovsky International Airport is not under Moscow’s authority but of the town of Ramenskoye.
Tajikistan that time agreed only to flights for Ural Airlines and Tajik Air from the Zhukovsky Airport.
