Russia Opens Airspace to Asia-Bound Cargo Planes

Russia has opened its airspace for freight transport by three foreign airlines: Air France, Lufthansa and Korean Air. This decision means that Kallax airport in Sweden, near the town of Lulea, can finally start to make money on refuelling planes during transit stops. This was revealed yesterday by Swedish business paper Dagens Industri.

The airport was modernized and had its runway extended in 1999 at a cost of around USD 10 million, although since then it has remained almost idle due to a refusal by Russia to open its airspace to cargo planes flying between Europe and Asia. In 2001 and 2002 only 17 refuelling stops were made at Kallax.