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Short of airplanes, Russia asks Main Asian airlines to run domestic flights

Dealing with a scarcity of aircrafts due to Western sanctions, Russia remains in talks with some Main Asian nations for their airlines to run domestic flights and help satisfy a pick up in travel demand.

Russian airlines, which use numerous Western aircraft delivered before the war in Ukraine, are struggling to fulfill growing need for air travel as sanctions hinder access to parts and domestic production takes time to ramp up.

Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit stated recently Russia was in talks with so-called friendly countries, including Kazakhstan, about foreign airline companies running domestic flights, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia has also approached Uzbekistan, which is considering the proposal, an Uzbek federal government source informed Reuters.

To date, there has actually been no official request from the Russian side on the concern, Kazakhstan's transportation ministry stated. Tajik and Krygyz authorities also said they had not gotten any official requests. Uzbekistan's transport ministry did not right away respond to a request for comment.

SANCTIONS DANGER

Artem Zhavoronkov, a partner at Russian law office Nordic Star, said Main Asian airline companies were unlikely to wish to risk running Russian domestic flights as that may cause them in turn facing Western sanctions.

This is a serious danger and hardly any big business from neighbouring nations will be prepared to accept it, Zhavoronkov said.

Russian airline companies saw passenger numbers drop 14.7% to 94.7 million in 2022 as the Western sanctions struck and much of Europe closed its airspace to them.

After a 11.3% rebound in 2023, passenger numbers are on track to leap once again this year, according to information from Rosaviatsia, Russia's civil air travel watchdog.

Moscow plans to provide Russian airline companies with up to 1,000 domestically-made aircraft by 2030, but production launches are being constantly delayed.

Sergei Chemezov, head of state corporation Rostec, on Wednesday informed parliament that mass production of the MS-21 aircraft and the Superjet New would start in 2025 and 2026, respectively.

Russian guidelines presently only enable foreign airlines to fly in between Russian cities and airports abroad. An airline market source said foreign airline companies may have a hard time to secure approval from lessors and insurance companies even if the rules are updated.

Kazakhstan's transportation ministry said it was concentrated on conference rising need at home, where passenger traffic is up about 15% from last year.

(source: Reuters)