Lufthansa Cargo and Russia have reached an agreement that will see the German carrier move its regional transit hub from Astana in Kazakhstan to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. Although Lufthansa has denied any linkage, the carrier will now enjoy full over-flight rights over Russian territory until the end of the carrier’s summer flight schedule on 30 August.
Russia first revoked Lufthansa Cargo’s overflight rights at the end of October, arguing it should shift its regional refueling hub from Astana to Siberia. In between the carrier was twice granted a temporary resumption in the overflight. The cargo airline uses Astana as a connecting point and technical stop for its flights to Southeast and North Asia with up to 49 flights a week passing through the Kazakhstan hub.
Lufthansa will begin landing at the Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo Airport at the latest, five months after modernisation work at the airport is completed in order to bring it up to ICAO category two certification.
The routing via Siberia will save the carrier nearly 30 minutes of flying time between Europe and Asia.