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Hopes for shorter airlanes through Russian airspace
Nov 29, 2007 (newstodate): In late January, 2008, representatives from the Norwegian Avinor will meet with their Russian counterparts in St Petersburg to discuss the opening of new Russian airspace for commercial traffic.
-We expect this meeting to focus on opening of the airspace over Novaja Zemja, facilitating shorter routes between city pairs in Europe, North America and Asia, says Jens Peter Duestad, Avinor.
-We have noted a strong interest among major airlines including Delta, Continental, SAS and Virgin Atlantic for routes that can operate on shorter routes in less congested airspace between these continents, and working on commercial conditions Avinor is keen to seize any opportunity to expand business.
Traffic on the existing routes is growing fast, and congestion is building up in the airspace south of Iceland.
If Russia concedes to opening new air lanes over its former nuclear test and military area around Novaja Zemja, Avinor expects a strong growth in air traffic north of Iceland, controlled by Avinor and the Russian ATM center at Murmansk.
The new routes would increase ETOPS operations, with Longyear at Svalbard, Norway, serving as an alternative airport capable of handling aircraft up to the size of Boeing 777.
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