FT: EU companies complain about Chinese carriers over permission to fly over Russia
European air carriers were outraged by the “unfair advantage” of Chinese airlines to fly over Russian territory. Writes about it The Financial Times.
According to the publication, EU companies consider it discrimination to allow Chinese aircraft to fly over the Russian Federation, as now they are forced to spend more time on flights. “Chinese airlines have an unfair advantage over European carriers who were banned from entering Russian airspace a year ago. Between Paris and Seoul, the flight time has increased by three hours. Chinese carriers can still fly over Russia and offer shorter routes to Europe,” said Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith.
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Topi Manner, chief executive of Finnair, also noted a “significantly disadvantageous” position compared to China. The Finnish company has built a business on the advantages of geographic location, offering fast flights to Asia via northern Russia, but the sudden closure of the skies to European aircraft has taken a toll on the company, he said. “Finnair flights between Helsinki and Tokyo now take more than 13 hours, compared to 9.5 hours before Russia closed airspace,” he explained.
Earlier in February, it became known that due to the influence of Western sanctions in Russia, the timing of the repair of Airbus and Boeing aircraft was greatly shifted. According to Marat Tereshchenko, adviser to the technical director of Aeroflot, if earlier Airbus A320 engines could be repaired in 20 days, now it takes four months.
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