The move is a follow-up to the decision to temporarily extend permission earlier this month after Russia banned flights by Lufthansa subsidiary's cargo planes through its airspace, demanding the airline relocate its Asia hub, now in Kazakhstan, to Siberia, in line with an interstate air traffic agreement.
"Taking into consideration the partnership between the countries and the memorandum as of February 23, 2007, Russian aviation authorities have extended permission for Lufthansa Cargo to fly [through Russian airspace] to the city of Astana until the end of February 2008," the ministry said in a letter to Germany.
Germany said last month it had banned Russian air freighters from flying through its airspace in response to the Russian ban, but has since dropped the measure.
The Russian ministry said Lufthansa was using the hub in Kazakhstan with temporary consent from Russia.
After talks in February 2007, the German airline pledged to shift stopovers to Russia's Krasnoyarsk or Novosibirsk and inform Russia of its choice before June 25. When the company failed to do, Russia moved to suspend temporary permission, which it had earlier promised to keep in force until the end of February 2008, the ministry said.
Detours to avoid Russian airspace after the ban increased Lufthansa's fuel bill by about $405,400 a week, the BBC quoted the carrier as saying.
The Transport Ministry received a promise from the Germany company last week that it would shift its stopovers to Krasnoyarsk if the airport made improvements to raise its International Civil Aviation Organization rating.
However, Vladimir Tasun, the ministry's civil aviation policy director, said the transformation would take about a year and require the investment of some 250 million rubles ($10 million).
"The airport management is ready to consider terms and proposals by the German company and is open to talks," he added.
