Russian Ministry of transport and aviation government of Tajikistan have concluded negotiations on the question of air transportation, the parties agreed on Russian airlines flying from the airport “Zhukovsky”, RIA Novosti reported.
"The sides reached agreement to continue to develop air traffic between the two countries in full," — said the Agency representative of the Ministry of transport of Russia on the results of these negotiations.
As it was previously reported, the aeronautical authorities of Tajikistan refused to accept the Russian carriers on a flight from the "Zhukovsky". In this respect Moscow could suspend air links with Dushanbe from the 8th of November.
Tajik authorities have insisted that the airport belongs to Moscow and it is necessary to revise the intergovernmental agreement for the access to fly in Dushanbe. But the Russian side has considered such a requirement "infringe on the sovereignty of the Russian Federation and law of the Russian carriers".
According to "Kommersant", during the negotiations "the severity of the problem managed to be removed", because the parties "have almost reached the point of no return in their bilateral relations". In the end, because of "the risk of flights cessation by local airlines is fraught with serious economic consequences", Tajik side has recognized that Zhukovsky doesn’t belong to Moscow air zone. After talks for the winter period Russian carrier got two frequencies a week, although Moscow insisted on three flights (in August the appointment received "Ural airlines").
Executive Director of "Aviaport" Oleg Panteleev in an interview with "Kommersant" said that based on the statements of the Ministry of transport, Russian officials were confident in the strength of their position and in the inevitability of such developments. The approval of flights from Zhukovsky is a “serious threat” for Tajik airlines, says Panteleev, because there will be competitors. The CEO of online-travel-agency Biletix Alexander Sizintsev said that Dushanbe is an active foreign direction. In 2016 this city entered the top-10 international destinations with the maximum volume of "one way" tickets sales, share of which accounts for more than 90%. The average check in Dushanbe from Russian cities in both directions in 2016 is 16.8 thousand rubles, which is 12% more than the last year.
