Air traffic between Russia and Belarus will remain in its current format until May 10, 2012. An agreement on this was reached on Thursday at negotiations between representatives of the aviation authorities of the two countries.

As the Russian Ministry of Transport announced following the meeting, all airlines operating on the Moscow-Minsk route will be able to operate flights in the previous format for another month. At the same time, states will continue to finalize the “edition of the air services agreement”, in which “the conditions for further operation of the contracted lines by the designated airlines of the parties while respecting the interests of passengers” should be agreed upon.

The scandal between the Russian Federation and Belarus erupted on the morning of Monday, March 26, after Moscow unilaterally banned flights to the Russian capital of the national carrier of the neighboring republic, Belavia. Minsk responded symmetrically by vetoing flights from carriers from the Russian Federation. As a result, the parties had to urgently sit down at the negotiating table and begin to negotiate a compromise.

The Ministry of Transport clarified that Moscow still proposes to “exclude from bilateral agreements restrictions on the number of designated airlines, on the frequency of airline flights and on carrying capacity.” Russia also wants to make a change to remove restrictions on the choice of points on the territory of the Russian Federation “for operation by Belarusian designated airlines.”

The Federal Air Transport Agency previously reported that Minsk, through administrative measures, tried to reduce the number of flights of Russian carriers from 35 to 28 per week, although many passengers had purchased tickets in advance from Moscow to Minsk or from Minsk to Moscow.

The air services agreement between the Russian Federation and Belarus does not provide for regulation on the number of flights and the number of airlines - the number of flights depends on the agreements of the parties, notes RIA Novosti .

Thus, according to the agreements for the last winter season, Russian and Belarusian airlines could operate 35 flights per week. Belavia flew five times a day, and on the Russian side, every day UTair and S7 operated one flight, and Aeroflot operated three flights.

Russia and Belarus agreed on the terms of air service until May 10