Russia Sees Big Profit in Cross-Polar Air Routes
Russia is about to bring North America and Southeast Asia closer together ≈ and
it could earn over a quarter of a billion dollars over the next decade doing so.
After a two-year demonstration program, Russia on Feb. 1 will officially open
its skies to allow regular cross-polar commercial air flights that will cut
several hours off flying times for high-traffic routes like New York-Hong Kong.
In addition to the time savings, which will be a blessing to travelers, the new
polar routes will be a financial boon to airlines, saving them tens of thousands
of dollars per flight in fuel, maintenance and operational costs. And Russia,
with an average navigation fee of $71 per 100 kilometers for foreign airlines,
will see revenues grow as traffic increases.
The new routes ≈ dubbed Polar 1, 2, 3 and 4 ≈ cross about 4,200 kilometers of
Russian territory over the Krasnoyarsk and Yakutsk regions and are separated
from each other by 1,000 kilometers. These routes can potentially service 33
pairs of cities, including Atlanta-Seoul, Los Angeles-Bangkok and
Vancouver-Beijing.
A feasibility study conducted by the Canadian air navigation authority NavCanada
found that Polar 1 and 2 could bring in as much as $96 million and Polar 3 and 4
another $234 million over the next 10 years. Currently, Russia earns $160
million annually in navigation fees.
The money will go toward modernizing the country`s air traffic control systems,
which will be upgraded as traffic grows, said Viktor Galkin, head of air traffic
control for Russia`s State Civil Aviation Service.
The NavCanada study also found that a flight from Vancouver, British Columbia,
to Delhi, India, for example, could be completed in 13.5 hours, compared with
the current 18 hours, by crossing…
Дальше »»»