MOSCOW, October 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia may scrap its trans-Siberian overflight fees for foreign air carriers in a decade, the transport minister said at a press conference Thursday.
Igor Levitin said that from 2014 onward, foreign airliners flying between Europe and Southeast Asia via Russian-controlled airspace over Siberia would be charged for air navigation services only.
Trans-Siberian overflight fees bring in $300 million annually for Russia, but the European Union objects to the fees, citing lack of transparency.
The fees were introduced to compensate for the losses the Soviet flagship carrier Aeroflot began to incur after long-range airliners came into use in 1969.
Until then, European airliners could go only as far as Moscow and their passengers traveling to Southeast Asia had to take a domestic flight across Siberia.
