MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/. St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport has launched the Seventh Freedom of The Air for low-cost international airlines in a pilot mode from January 1, 2020.

The Seventh Freedom of The Air implies that a foreign airline has the right to fly between two foreign countries without an intermediate stopover in the home state.

According to Russia’s Transport Ministry, the introduction of this sort of an ‘open skies’ mode at Pulkovo along with a simplified visa system will improve St. Petersburg’s transport accessibility and bolster the city’s economy. Pulkovo will run this program in test mode for five years. So far, none of the foreign carriers have announced the start of the flights.

Earlier, the Transport Ministry reported that so far only European low-cost airlines Wizz Air, Ryanair, EasyJet, Volotea, Air Baltic, FlyOne and some other airlines confirmed their interest in the open skies offer.

"By 95%, they [low-cost airlines - TASS] coincide with the list of states whose residents can visit St. Petersburg with electronic visas. The United Kingdom is the only exception of the 22 countries," the ministry said.

What countries can enjoy Pulkovo’s ‘open skies’

The 30 countries selected for this program have been divided into two groups. The first will be able to fly to Pulkovo under the Seventh Freedom of The Air without restrictions. This group includes 21 countries: Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, and Estonia.

The second group will be able to fly to Pulkovo with some restrictions on points of departure and arrival. This group includes Austria (except Vienna), Bulgaria (flights can be made to Sofia only), the UK (except London), Germany (except Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, and Munich), Spain (except Barcelona and Malaga), Italy (except Rome and Milan), Cyprus (excluding Larnaca and Paphos), France (except Nice and Paris) and the Czech Republic (except Prague).

Pulkovo has become the first Russian airport to introduce the Seventh Freedom of The Air. Currently, Vladivostok’s airport in Russia’s Far East is also running an ‘open skies’ program. The airport can easily accept transit flights of foreign carriers.

Seventh Freedom of the Air

In Russian civil aviation, commercial rights to operate flights are divided into nine freedoms of the air. Each freedom implies a certain degree of transportation opportunities for airlines. The first freedom allows a carrier to simply cross the airspace of a foreign state without landing, and the ninth freedom grants the right to carry passengers inside a foreign state without landing there.

The seventh freedom of the air allows a carrier to operate flights between two foreign countries without an intermediate landing in the home state.