Russia In Talks With USA To Restore Direct Air Service

As relations between Moscow and Washington thaw, Russia is pushing the Trump administration to lift airspace restrictions so that direct air service between the two nations can be restored as early as this summer.

Russia Wants To Restore Direct Air Service To USA

Even ahead of the disastrous Oval Office meeting yesterday between the Trump administration and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia and the US have met this week in Istanbul, Turkey. The agenda has been driven by a mutual desire to restore diplomatic missions, but as the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs later commented, the meeting centered “on ways to overcome numerous ‘irritants’ inherited from previous American administrations.”

The ministry further added:

“The need for practical results aimed at creating conditions for improving bilateral relations in the interests of the peoples of our countries was particularly emphasized. In concrete terms, the American side was asked to consider the possibility of restoring direct air traffic.

“The discussions proceeded in a substantive and business-like manner, with both parties agreeing to continue dialogue through this channel.”

Ukraine’s then ally, the USA, joined by the European Union, UK, and Canada, banned Russian aircraft from its airspace after the unilateral invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. Rusisa reciprocated, closing off its airspace to its geopolitical rivals.

Strong sanctions also attempted to curtail Russian carriers from receiving spare parts for their Airbus and Boeing aircraft, though Russia has managed to dodge such sanctions through “neutral” countries like Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia, and even Israel…

Thus far, the US has only said that it held “constructive discussions” with Moscow, but did not address the restoration of air service specifically.

US Carriers Rooting For This

I suspect US carriers, especially United Airlines, are rooting for these airspace restrictions to be lifted.

United used to serve Moscow…my review here…and I don’t think that route will return in the near future. No, direct service between Russia and the USA will continue to be on Aeroflot only.

But opening up Russian airspace would allow United (in particular) as well as Delta Air Lines to restore more service to India and look into other routes. Currently, Indian carriers have a great advantage over US carriers by utilizing Russian airspace in their service to the USA.

And the lack of verified maintenance records during the Ukraine War makes it very dangerous to allow nonstop service to the USA. We’ve heard numerous reprots about how Aeroflot, for example, has been forced to canablize its own A350s for spare parts…you just wonder how well these aircraft have been maintained and setting side geopolitcal concerns, if the US Department of Transportation cares about safety, allwoing such aircraft back into US airspace is problematic.

My hunch is that the talks are more about lifting sanctions over spare parts than about restoring air service: the two go hand-in-hand.

CONCLUSION

Russia wants to restore air service to the USA and with new occupants in the White House, there’s a good chance that the airpsace restrictions each country has imposed on one another could soon be lifted. Even if the airspace restrictions are lifted, allowing Aeroflot planes to serve the USA appears to be a dangerous gamble after cutting off the Russian flag carrier from spare parts for three years.

Who’s going to Moscow this summer?

image: Aeroflot