Russia appears to have backed off a threat to suspend air travel to Tajikistan after a day of talks between the two countries' aviation authorities in Moscow on November 7.
Following the talks, the two nations announced they would maintain and develop air travel, and in particular agreed on a roster of flights to Tajikistan from Moscow's new Zhukovsky airport, which has few airlines servicing it to date.
A standoff had developed over Tajikistan's earlier refusal to receive Russian airline flights originating from the Zhukovsky airport.
But Sarvat Bakhti, a counselor at the Tajik Embassy in Moscow, told TASS that a compromise was reached allowing Ural Airlines to operate flights from Zhukovsky to Dushanbe and Khujand twice a week.
In return, he said Moscow agreed to open additional destinations for Tajik air carriers in Ufa, Chelyabinsk, and Barnaul.
"Previously, those destinations were closed for Tajik air companies," Bakhti told TASS.
Also Tajik airlines will be allowed to carry more flights from Khujand to St. Petersburg, he said.
Air service between the two countries is operated by Tajik air companies Tajik Air and Somon Air, and Russian air carriers Ural Airlines, Rossiya, Sibir, and UTair.
