Belarus plans to provide subsidies to Russian airlines to expand the geography and number of flights from Russian regions. Priority is to restore flights between Minsk and Novosibirsk. This was stated by Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to Russia Dmitry Krutoy when commenting on the results of the summit talks and the meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State in Moscow.
According to him, the airline Belavia, given the number of planes and the priority load on Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Yekaterinburg and Kazan, can no longer physically serve other regions. For these reasons, the Government of Belarus is considering the issue of inviting Russian companies to perform flights from Russian regions to Minsk.
“And this is our joint agreement, where we will not jack up the prices of air navigation services at airports. Moreover, we will give Russian airlines some kind of preferential treatment and tariffs. Perhaps, this will encourage them to open flights to Minsk. There are such examples today. They are Perm, Ufa, Kaluga, Cherepovets, Nizhny Novgorod,” TV chanal Belarus 1 quoted the ambassador to Russia.
The first stage is considered the issue of possible regional subsidies. “When we talk about the regions, about the cities, these are regional subsidies. There are no federal subsidies for the airlines for such flights. Therefore, the Russian Ministry of Transport will not help anything here. We have agreed with our Transport Ministry that maybe we will put together a three-part scheme: a Russian subsidy for the regions, our air navigation and other services at the Minsk National Airport which we can provide, and perhaps an element of our subsidies from the Transport Ministry’s money, including from the budget that we have. It’s a small contribution from the Belarusian side. And I think the effect will be tremendous,” said the ambassador.
According to him, there is a huge demand for the expansion of flights between Belarus and different cities of the Russian Federation. The task is to open direct flights to all 16 cities with a population of over a million people in Russia.
“Today because of a special military operation we can’t fly (they are simply closed), for example, to Krasnodar, Voronezh or Rostov-on-Don. But with other cities we are actively working, – said the diplomat. – The nearest priority is Novosibirsk. It is the third city in Russia, in fact, the aviation hub in Siberia. A new terminal was opened there. There is a very strong interest of the governor, the local government and business.”
Dmitry Krutoy added that we are also working with Volgograd, Samara and other cities, where the Belarusian airline used to fly before the suspension of air links due to the coronavirus pandemic.
