OREANDA-NEWS. May 25, 2010. Due to a tight situation on some international routes caused by refusals of appointed carriers to agree upon charters of other air carriers, FAS Russia would like to inform, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia:

No.92 Order of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation "On Approving the Procedures for Access of Licensed Air Carriers to International Air Passenger and (or) Freight Transportation" of 17th August 2008 establishes the procedure for the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) to permit access of airlines to international transportation provided the air transport operations are approved upon (coordinated) with the air carrier appointed on behalf of the Russian Federation, in cases specified by the international treaties, to which the Russian Federation is a signatory. The Order was registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on 9th July 2008, Registration Number 11949.

Therefore, the above condition is linked to the requirements of bilateral treaties on air traffic signed by the Russian Federation, which form the basis of legal regulation of international air transportation. The above treaties, in particular, establish obligations of aviation authorities regarding charter flights of non-appointed airlines on the routes served by where appointed airlines, requiring to take into consideration the interests of appointed airlines in such a manner that their interests on those routes are not infringed.

At the same time FAS Russia believes that developing competition on the markets of works and services in the field of air transportation reduces the risks of discriminatory conduct of market participants, stimulates growth of traffic volume, meets passenger requirements, including the price and quality of services, and encourages enhancement of international economic relations.

Making decisions of transforming the system of relations regulated by the international law needs different approaches to the work of the antimonopoly bodies. Earlier FAS Russia and the antimonopoly authorities of the CIS member-states, within the framework of activities of the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy, prepared the Report "On the State of Competition in the CIS Member-States", which gives recommendations for liberalization of the air passenger transportation market in CIS.

The recommendations emphasize the need to make changes and amendments to bilateral interstate treaties on air traffic, aimed, in particular, to reduce restrictions on the number of appointed air carriers, exclude approving traffic volumes and fares between appointed air carriers, exclude fare-fixing by aviation authorities of the parties to the treaty, introduce expert assessments of compliance of the draft treaties to the competition norms by the antimonopoly authorities to exclude discriminatory practice or unfair competition.

The Report was approved by the Council of the Heads of CIS Governments, which passed a decision (14th November 2008, Kishinev, Moldova) that the Governments of the CIS member-states must take into account the conclusions and recommendations made in the Report when implementing the "Main Areas of Developing Civil Aviation and Improving Flight Safety in the CIS Member-States" (approved by the Council of the Heads of CIS Governments on 22nd November 2007).

So far, FAS Russia has not received any proposals from the Russian Ministry of transport as part of the work on executing the above instructions. At the same time FAS Russia has devised a draft standard bilateral treaty factoring in the necessary conditions for developing competition. The document will be discussed at the beginning of June 2010 by the Headquarters for Joint Investigations by the CIS Antimonopoly Authorities, to be further presented at the Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy in order to develop coherent proposals of antimonopoly bodies for ultimate improvement of the situation on the international air transportation market.