Ukrainian Air Carriers Ask Russia for Permission to Make Winter Flights

Two Ukrainian air carriers have asked Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) for permission to fly to Russia during the winter period, the agency said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A request was made by UTair-Ukraine and Atlasjet Ukraine to carry out flights between Kiev and Moscow, and Lviv and Moscow during this time, according to the statement.

"Despite the fact that the Ukrainian side initiated the termination of air traffic, Rosaviatsia received a letter from Atlasjet Ukraine with a request to allow flights for the 2015-2016 winter season on three routes: Kiev-Moscow, Odessa-Moscow and Kiev-St.Petersburg," the transport agency said in a statement.

Ukraine announced in September that it would ban numerous Russian airlines from entering its airspace as part of its sanctions against Moscow with Russia shortly mirroring the move.

"Sharing the approaches to the development of air services between our countries, based on the provisions referred to in the Ukrainian company's address, Rosaviatsia sent a letter to the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine proposing to urgently hold negotiations on a number of existing air traffic issues, at any location convenient for the Ukrainian side," the Russian agency said.

Rosaviatsia added that it expected the pragmatic proposals made by the Ukrainian air carriers to "prevail over politicized decisions."