At the end of this month, the Russian aviation authorities are expected to decide whether Lufthansa Cargo again will be permitted to overfly Russian territory from Germany to the Kazakhstan capital Astana.
Before banning the German cargo carrier from the Russian skies at the end of October last year, which after political pressure was lifted until the end of February, Lufthansa Cargo operated 52 freighter flights a week through the Kazakh capital.
The official explanation for the Russian overflight ban, which the German government swiftly countered by briefly barring Aeroflot Cargo from using Frankfurt-Hahn airport, was that the previous agreement had expired.
However, it soon transpired that Russia was using heavy-handed tactics to force Lufthansa Cargo to move its hub from Astana to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. In a statement, Russia’s Transportation Ministry claimed that Lufthansa in February last year had committed itself to move its transit hub to either Krasnoyarsk or Novosibirsk.
In an exclusive interview with Payload Asia, Azat Bekturov, Kazakhstan’s vice minister of Transport & Communications, said: "If you look at the situation from the side, it really is about Germany and Russia. It is about the Russian aviation authorities and an airline. It is not about us. However, when it comes to Russia taking away revenue from a Kazakh airport, it is about us.
"Lufthansa Cargo wanted to fly to Astana because our airport provides everything they need. With seven freighter flights a day, Astana airport is now the second largest cargo airport behind Frankfurt in terms of the number of freighter flights and tonnage," he said.
Bekturov pointed out that: "the price of this open war, which really is between Germany and Russia – with Kazakhstan on the side – is enormous for us," adding that Astanaairport faces losing US$200 million in revenue. "That is a lotof money, but it is equally about prestigewhen a large European carrier decidesto choose Astana over other airports inthe region."
In a letter to the Russian government, which Bekturov drafted for his direct boss, Kazakhstan’s Transport Minister Serik Akhmetov, Kazakhstan stressed that the country favours open and fair competition.
"It has to be between airports and an airline must have a free choice of where it can get a better service at a better price. It is not fair to use overflying rights to pressure airlines because Russia with its huge overflying territory, can always play the overflying card.
"Besides, this move is against the principles of friendship at the highest political levels between Russia and Kazakhstan. You simply don’t take away a carrier, which is bringing US$200 million in revenues to Kazakhstan’s capital airport and force it to move to a sub-Siberian airport, which doesn’t even have what it needs to have to provide Lufthansa Cargo the services that it needs," Bekturov said.
He acknowledged that it will not be difficult for the Russian aviation authorities to create everything that Lufthansa Cargo needs in Krasnoyarsk, but he stressed that the action is a misuse of overflying rights.
Meanwhile, negotiations between the two parties are ongoing and Bekturov, who is a board member of Air Astana, said Kazakhstan had told the Russians that it wanted to be part of the negotiations, because it had a vested interest in the outcome of the talks.
Whatever will be decided, the position of Astana airport is still in danger, he said, because we don’t know whether Lufthansa Cargo will continue to operate to the Kazakh capital."