NEWS FLASH
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya, has granted Air Serbia approval to operate flights between Belgrade and Shanghai via the Trans-Siberian air corridor upon the request of the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate. In a filing, the Russian regulator confirmed that the airspace has now been included as an intermediate point between Belgrade and Shnaghai in the bilateral air service agreement between the two countries.
Although the approval was secured in late April, Air Serbia continues to use a southern flight path through Central Asia for its services to Shanghai. The airline previously stated that, due to Belgrade’s geographical location, the southern routing does not significantly increase flight time. Chinese carrier operating from both Beijing and Guangzhou use the Trans-Siberian air corridor on their respective flights to Belgrade.
Bravo JU
ReplyDeleteThere is no way the southern route is more economical than the northern route. JU probably has no valid permits from the lessor, or just simply does not want to risk it by flying over Russia (if not absolutely necessary, which is the case with Russia bound flights).
ReplyDeleteI doubt he Serbian directorate asked the Russians out of fun and they obviously asked for the permit because Air Serbia asked them to do it. There is probably a plan to start using it.
DeleteDid someone said it was? They said it wasn’t such a big difference, due to Belgrade’s geographic location. At no point did they claim it was, in fact, more profitable. It probably just isn’t less profitable by a significant margin.
DeleteSounds dangerous
ReplyDeleteIt does? All Chinese carriers, Emirates, Qatar, Etihad and others use it without issue.
DeleteShanghai is nowhere near Siberian air space. Maybe this allowance refers to Tokyo or Seoul route
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness. You do realise the earth is round. The quickest way to Shanghai is to use the Siberian airspace. And if you bothered to read the article, it is exactly for Shanghai, not non existant Tokyo or Seoul which the airline has said will be launched in several years.
Delete@Anon 15:47
DeleteThe great-circle route to PVG would also go through Ukraine or Belarus (excluding a small portion of north Belarus), both of which are closed to European aircraft. There is a big detour to route the PVG flights through Russia as they need to go through Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. However, if they take the southern route initially, through Turkey and Kazakhstan, they could rejoin the Siberian corridor there to avoid the northwest China.
Can't fly from Estonia or Latvia to Russia afaik
Delete^ absolutely not true. Air Serbia does it daily on flights to Russia, as do Chinese carriers.
DeleteIf insurance is a problem then use Serbian insurance companies - if they don't want to provide coverage then the government steps in and provides the insurance. If it is a lease issue then either find a lessor willing to fly - it looks like thousands of Flights used by Asia and Middle East companies proves there are those willing to give permission.
ReplyDeleteAnd why would a Serbian insurance company magically charge lower rates for flying over dangerous airspace?
DeleteSince when is the airspace above Siberia dangerous?
Delete1) Azerbaijan plane was shot by trigger happy Russian air defense crew.
Delete2) Gulf airlines aircraft are regularly stuck in Russia, because if you have some malfunction, it’s hard to get spare parts into Russia because of sanctions.
These are two major reasons why lessors and insurers don’t like Russia.
Зашто не кажете ко је користио радарски одраз азербеџајнског авиона да провуче дрон на територију Русије?
DeleteWhy is Air Serbia now flying north of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on a route to Shanghai?
ReplyDeleteCause it's shorter
DeleteInteresting. Why are LH and other airlines using that route and not the one JU is using over Kazakhstan?
DeleteWhat is cost saving in percents north vs south route?
ReplyDeleteProbably wiser to fly with SCUT
ReplyDeleteGreat circle distance, that gives optimal route for flying between two points, actually does not touch Siberian airspace between Belgrade and Shanghai. It just aproaches (from the south) the Mongolia/Russia border, and goes south of Russia/Kazakhstan border. After Kazakhstan ideal path goes through Russia north of Kaspian sea, and then straight to Ukraine and then Romania. Since flying over parts of southern Russia regions and Ukraine is restricted, the real flight path anyway needs to go south over Kaspian sea and then over Azerbaijan and Georgia.
ReplyDeleteSo this Siberian overfly permit is not for routes between Belgrade and south of China, but would be very useful for Tokyo and Seoul routes, as great circle distance between Belgrade and both of these cities goes well over Siberia.
So the Directorate does not know what it is doing? It applied on behalf of Air Serbia for Shanghai flights.
DeleteChina has Tibet, which is not safe for planes because of lack of emergency airfields, and it has a lot of military restricted areas. These might be reasons why shortest path involve more Siberian airspace than expected.
DeleteGreat circle distance between Belgrade/Shanghai does not go over Tibet.
DeleteCurrent flightpath, with exception to not flying over Russian Volga-Don region and Ukraine is not to far from ideal path, although it also avoids Mongolian airspace. Maybe to avoid paying one more country overfly. Maybe Siberian permit is also required to gain access to Mongolia flightpaths. The great circle distance is ideal, but flight corridors can not follow every such path perfectly, so it may be the case that if you fly over Mongolia, you also have to take flight corridor that goes slightly over the Siberia. Anyway southern flight corridors are now probably quite congested, so gaining access to northern path, even if slightly off, may be very positive development.
DeleteSo many experts in the comments.
ReplyDelete