NYT: US airlines demanded to ban foreign competitors from flying over Russia
US airlines that have lost the ability to fly over Russia urged Congress and the White House to prohibit foreign competitors from crossing Russian airspace, the New York Times reported.
As noted in the article, because of the loss of polar routes that save time and fuel, American carriers had to change plans for trans-Pacific flights, reduce the number of passengers and cargo and postpone the launch of more than a dozen planned routes to Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul and other cities.
As a result, U.S. airlines are suffering losses while their foreign competitors, who are allowed to fly through Russia, carry passengers faster and cheaper. According to American industry representatives, access to shorter and more economical routes gives Air India, Emirates and China Eastern Airlines an “unfair advantage”. For example, the lobby group Airlines for America has estimated an annual loss of market share of two billion dollars.
The airlines are therefore insisting that the White House and Congress “solve the problem” by applying the same restrictions to foreign carriers as to US carriers, “effectively forcing them to fly on the same routes as their US competitors”.
According to Airlines for America spokeswoman Marley Collier, the Joe Biden administration should take steps to ensure that foreign carriers flying over Russia “do not take off, land or transit through US airports”.
Knowledgeable sources have told the New York Times that the proposal appears to have gained the support of the U.S. Department of Transportation, which recently drafted an order barring Chinese airlines carrying passengers to the United States from flying through Russian airspace. That document is now under consideration by the White House, the paper’s interlocutors added.
After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Western countries stepped up sanctions pressure on Moscow. Among others, the civil aviation sector came under attack. The European Union, the USA, Canada and other countries have closed the skies to Russian aircraft, while Russia has responded in the same way.
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