India, Russia to discuss air services in mid-June

New Delhi, May 23: India and Russia will hold negotiate air services agreement on June 14 and 15 to iron out growing differences, Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said.

Officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the ministry will visit Moscow to discuss the matters with their counterparts.

Recently, a row between the two countries was narrowly averted with the Russian side allowing Indian carriers to continue over-flights till June 15. India too has now allowed Russian airlines to fly to the country, relenting from the earlier position of banning Russian flights to India.

Indian officials say the Russian side was creating problems for over-flights for Air India and Jet Airways.

At present, the Russian national airline Aeroflot operates regular flights to Delhi and Mumbai, Transaero airline operates flights to Goa and Amritsar. Air India and Jet Airways operate to the European sector using Russian air space.

UNI