Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European Union (EU) airlines have not been able to fly over the russian airspace. This restriction has become a problem for Western airlines, which have been forced to make longer trips on certain routes. What is the consequence of this? An increase in costs derived from fuel and personnel, as well as fewer flights.
Chinese airlines have not faced any restrictions in Russian airspace, allowing them to continue using it as they had been doing. Marjan Rintel, the CEO of KLM, believes that Brussels should do something about this. “Europe should, at a minimum, analyze how we can avoid this unfair competition, whether by setting a Price or looking for another way to regulate it,” he said this week in an interview on the Dutch channel WNL.
Longer (and more expensive) flights due to Russian restrictions
Rintel also pointed out that Chinese rivals can save between two and four hours of flying time in destinations located in Asia thanks to the fact that they can use Russian airspace. Simple Flying, based on data from Cirium, points out that a flight from Amsterdam-Schiphol airport to Shanghai with KLM has a total duration (Block Time) of 12.1 hours. The same journey made by the Asian airline China Eastern is completed in 11.1 hours.
The KLM leader’s comments come amid a scenario in which other airlines are considering reducing their flights to China and, in a way, offering more market opportunities to non-EU companies. British Airways will suspend its flights between London and Beijing until the end of next year. Lufthansa, for its part, is contemplating changes to its Frankfurt to Beijing route in the face of bold competition.
In his dialogue with Dutch television, Rintel did not delve too deeply into this matter, so questions remain on the table. It is unclear how the EU could help improve competition for the bloc’s airlines amid Russian restrictions. The Dutch enforcement suggestion of “setting a price” could be applied to overflight fee that Chinese airlines must pay to pass through European airspace.
We will have to wait to find out how this story will end. For now, the European Parliament has been addressing the issue of tariffs on Chinese electric cars. After this month’s approval, the door has been left open to take them up to 35%. Although not everyone agrees with these measures. The German giant Volkswagen has been opposing this type of solution for a long time.
Images | Jordy Muñoz | Andrew Dawes (Unsplash License)
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