FRANCE: INFORMATION ON CODESHARING WITH RUSSIAN

UNCLAS PARIS 005947 SIPDIS SENSITIVE FOR EB/TRA/AN-LJONES, EUR/WE PLEASE PASS TO DOT-STEVEN HATLEY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAIR FR SUBJECT: FRANCE: INFORMATION ON CODESHARING WITH RUSSIAN FEDERATION REF: SECSTATE 153814 ¶1. (U) Note 4.6 of the Annex to the Air Services Agreement between France and the Russian Federation, signed in Moscow 2 July 2001 states that "any cooperative agreement relative to commercializing services such as joint operations and code-sharing operations between transportation companies of the contracting parties or third-parties requires a specific agreement between the aviation authorities of the contracting parties." The text in French has been pouched to EB/TRA and faxed to EB/TRA and DOT as requested reftel. ¶2. (SBU) Econoff discussed the issue with Emmanuel Vivet, head of the Air Services Agreement Office at the Civil Aviation Authority. France has a codeshare agreement with the Russian Federation, allowing Air France and Aeroflot to carry the each other's designations on the Paris-Moscow route. ¶3. (SBU) In general he thought the Russians were "too prudent" to agree to arrangements that might open their market, absent a strong compensating advantage. He thought it would be "very difficult" to get agreement for a third-party code-share for a U.S. airline via France, given that the Russia did not participate in any alliance and had little direct interest in such an arrangement. On the other hand, given the strength of the Air France-KLM partnership, Russia had agreed to "remain open" to proposition for KLM codeshares on Air France flights, if at some point the two companies were interested. This suggests that such an arrangement is not beyond the realm of possibility. STAPLETON