Tajikistan and Russia have reportedly lifted all restrictions that were imposed on flights between their cities.
Russian news agency TASS, citing the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, reports that negotiations between Moscow and Dushanbe over aviation disputes that took place in Moscow on April 4 resulted in lifting restrictions on flights between the Russian and Tajik cities.
Moreover, four new air routes, namely Perm-Dushanbe, Zhukovsky Airport-Kulob, Chelyabinsk-Khujand and Krasnodar-Khujand have reportedly been added to the summer schedule.
The delegations have reached agreement on further joint steps to develop air communication between Russia and Tajikistan, according to TASS.
Recall, recent airlines war between Tajikistan and Russian has resulted in reduction in the number of flights between the two countries.
This story began on March 12, when Tajikistan’s Transportation Ministry denied Yekaterinburg-based Ural Airlines permission to operate five routes connecting cities in the two countries. Tajik aviation officials noted that Ural Airlines was acting beyond the confines of a bilateral agreement granting Tajik and Russian air companies equal numbers of flights between the countries.
On April 1, the Russian civil aviation authorities suspended flights of Tajik air carriers from Dushanbe to the Russian cities of Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Kazan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, St. Petersburg and Sochi and from the Tajik northern city of Khujand to Kazan and St. Petersburg.
Tajikistan has responded by halting flights of five Russian airlines’ flights, namely Ural Airlines, UTair, S-7 Airlines, Nordwind Airlines and Globus Airlines (Russian airline based at Domodedovo International Airport and operating for S7 Airlines), from Russian regions to Dushanbe and Khujand beginning on April 2.
The history of disputes between the Tajik and Russian civil aviation authorities dates back to early November 2016. 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 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 Zhukovsky Airport.
