OREANDA-NEWS  The Federal Air Transport Agency is discussing the possibility of "lifting all restrictions" for Belavia when flying to Russia. Sources  in three airlines said that the agency sent telegrams last week with instructions to provide a position on this issue. A Kommersant source close to the Ministry of Transport clarified that we are talking about lifting restrictions for the Belarusian side on the number of flights and destinations available to them in the cities of the Russian Federation. Cabotage (flights between cities of the Russian Federation, for example, Minsk—St. Petersburg-Kazan) and the seventh freedom of the sky (Minsk—St. Petersburg—Tbilisi) are not yet implied. Officially, the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency “Kommersant" did not respond.

Kommersant sent a request to Belavia, as well as top-5 airlines, Utair, Azur Air, Azimut and Smartavia. The press service of the latter noted that they do not see "the need for additional cargo capacities on domestic air lines of the Russian Federation." If a positive decision is made, the airline "considers it necessary to maintain parity in the distribution of routes within the Russian Federation and Belarus."

Interlocutors in other major airlines note that they do not see the point in such a privilege for their Belarusian colleagues. One of them notes that there is insufficient demand in the regions to fly to Minsk on large-capacity aircraft, while "you can find good regional lines for aircraft with 100 seats." At the same time, a number of interlocutors share concerns about the possible cancellation of parity or further expansion of Belavia's opportunities in the market. Thus, a number of companies note that Minsk Airport still offers them service at the rates applicable to foreign carriers, although Belavia pays at Russian airports at Russian tariffs.