FRANKFURT (AFP) — Germany has accepted the transfer of Lufthansa Cargo's central Asian hub from Kazakhstan to Siberia, bowing to pressure from Moscow after it blocked the carrier from flying over Russian territory.
"Discussions with the Russian transport ministry continue. At this time, it is above all a question of a timetable for the transfer of Lufthansa Cargo towards the Russian airport of Krasnoyarsk," Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said Friday in a statement.
The announcement signalled a possible end to a dispute that had seen Lufthansa cargo planes forced to make a costly detour around Russian airspace en route to the group's current Asian refueling and distribution point at Astana, Kazakhstan.
Russia banned Lufthansa Cargo from Russia airspace earlier this week after a permit allowing the airline to fly over the country expired. The ban was seen by some as an attempt to strong-arm Lufthansa into moving its hub from Kazakhstan to Russia.
Detours to avoid Russian airspace have increased the carrier's fuel costs by about 400,000 dollars (280,000 euros) per week.
The Russian transport ministry agreed on Friday to extend a temporary authorisation, allowing Lufthansa Cargo to resume flights over the country.
Tiefensee said that a precondition for a final accord was "the creation of infrastructure to enable flights to that airport (Krasnoyarsk) in any weather condition."
According to the Financial Times Deutschland, Krasnoyarsk lacks guides for fog-bound landings.
Lufthansa Cargo, a major air cargo carrier, uses McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighters with a range that prevents direct flights to Asian capitals.
Lufthansa Cargo had appeared earlier Friday to be categorically opposed to a move to a Siberian city, with a spokesman telling Thomson Financial news agency it was "out of the question."
"Technical conditions at the airports mentioned absolutely do not satisfy international standards," the spokesman said.
Later, the group stressed that conditions at the airport needed to be upgraded and that the location of the hub should not be linked to the issue of overflight rights.
A statement said: "We don't agree that talks about overflight rights should be linked to demands for the transfer of the cargo hub.
"Lufthansa Cargo will only consider a move once operational and commercial conditions are established."
German officials had promised to respond by November 7 to Russian conditions that include a requirement that Lufthansa freight flights to southeast Asia make a stop on Russian territory, the Russian trade ministry said.
The spat is another example of trade tension between Russia and a European Union member, with relations strained between the EU and its giant neighbour to the east.
Polish meat exports to Russia and gas shipments from Russia via Ukraine to EU states have also raised tensions in the past year.
On Monday, cargo flights by the Russian airline Aeroflot were barred from landing in Frankfurt, but the measure was lifted the next day "as a goodwill gesture," according to a German transport ministry spokesman.
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