Beginning on February 3, 2017, Tajikistan’s private air carrier, Somon Air, will resume flights to four Russian cities – Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, Ufa and Orenburg.
“An agreement on this subject was reached today at a meeting of the Tajikistan-Russia intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation being held in Dushanbe,” and official source at the Ministry of Transport (MoT) of Tajikistan told Asia-Plus on January 27.
Recall, Moscow suspended flights of Tajik private air carrier, Somon Air, to the Russian regions starting from 00:00 am on December 23, 2016. The ban included flights of the airline to all Russian cities, except Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The history of this dispute dates back to early November. 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.
Russia's Transport Ministry said on November 3 that it would suspend flights to Tajikistan from November 8 unless Tajik aviation authorities change their position on the Zhukovsky airport near Moscow.
Following the talks that took place in Moscow on November 7, Tajik and Russian civil aviation authorities agreed to maintain and develop air traffic, and in particular reached an agreement on flights to Tajikistan from Zhukovsky International Airport near Moscow.
Trouble resumed on December 21, when Russia again threatened to close its airspace to Tajik airlines if Dushanbe would not agree to admit flights from Russian air company, Yamal Airlines.
Tajikistan’s civil aviation authorities on December 21 just an hour before midnight agreed to temporarily allow flights by Russia’s Yamal Airlines to Dushanbe from Zhukovsky International Airport.
Tajikistan has allowed Yamal Airlines to operate just one chartered flight from Zhukovsky airport to Dushanbe on December 22 to take out about 100 passengers who were stranded in Zhukovsky airport for two days.
Tajik authorities have questioned the legitimacy of the Yamal flights, but agreed to continue talks on the matter after Russia lifted its threat to stop all flights to Tajikistan.
Tajikistan’s Ministry of Transport said that during the November negotiations, Tajikistan agreed only to flights for Ural Airlines and Tajik Air, and that there was no mention of Yamal Airlines.
Tajik authorities said allowing the Yamal flights would break the parity of Russia and Tajikistan in the number of airlines allowed flying between Moscow and Tajikistan.
A statement released by the Tajik civil aviation authorities on December 22, in particular, noted that “since the Tajik side has not yet appointed the second air carrier on this route and for the purpose of observing the parity of Tajikistan and Russia in the number of airlines flying between Tajikistan and Moscow, it appears impossible to give operating permit to Yamal Airlines for 2016-2017 winter season.”
In response to this, Moscow suspended flights of Tajik privately owned air carrier, Somon Air, to the Russian regions starting from 00:00 am on December 23.
Somon Air is the first private airline in Tajikistan with an office headquartered in Dushanbe. The airline operations are based at Dushanbe International Airport. The airline started operating on February 5, 2008 with regular flights to Moscow and Dubai.
Somon Air also serves as the official carrier of President of the Republic of Tajikistan and other Tajikistan high-ranking officials.
