MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. The number of commercial rights for flight operations between Russia and Japan has been more than doubled - from 80 to 174 flights per week, head of the Russian Transport Ministry’s department of state policy in civil aviation Svetlana Petrova told TASS.
"Following the talks between aviation authorities of the Russian Federation and Japan, Russia’s Transport Ministry signed a memorandum that substantially widens the rights (for flights to Japan - TASS) of Russian airlines. The number of flights that Russian airlines will be able to perform to Japan has been more than doubled - from 80 to 174 flights per week," she said.
Moreover, Russian freight carriers have been given the right to fly with fifth freedom of the air to Hong Kong, Seoul, Bangkok and the United States. The fifth freedom allows an airline to fly from one's own country to a second country, and from that country to a third country (for example, Aeroflot’s flight from Moscow to Tokyo and further on to Hong Kong), Petrova said.
"Apart from that, the Russian side has managed to convince the aviation authorities of Japan to provide Russian airlines with an opportunity to perform passenger flights from Russia to China through Japan. That is an unprecedented step as Japanese colleagues have never given the rights of the fifth freedom for passenger flights," she explained.