Mr. Vladimir Goriachev, Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Air Transportation Office, answered these and other questions at a round table during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum...

        The Russian aviation system only serviced domestic flights within its national air space, including the Arctic region. There were no regular foreign airline flights into the Arctic. The needs of national consumers and of those living in polar stations brought about the creation of aviation support along the North Sea Route. Dispatcher points were set up and put into operation in order to serve those flights.
        As aviation technology progresses, international air carriers are beginning to make use of the unique geopolitical location of Russia's air space. A simple drawing shows that most possible routes between Europe, America and South East Asia (whose economy is developing rapidly) all cross Russian air space.
        And what if we add routes from America to India? Or maybe those to Africa?
        One can hardly question the uniqueness of our geographic location. If properly utilized, our national air space is unquestionably capable of solving the country's economic problems as well as those related to national security.
        There are several important dates in the history of regular flights over the Arctic. First and foremost, June 17, 1992, when the Presidents of Russia and the US signed a memorandum for the creation of short flight routes between North America and East Asia. The Russian-American group, RAGGAT, was given the responsibility of establishing air bridges between the two continents. Almost three years later, at a meeting in Bangkok, the Russian delegation presented their proposal for polar flight routes. On April 4, 1998, a high-level group, ITASPS, was set up for the international coordination of intercontinental flight routes.
        The goal of Russia's proposal in Bangkok was to create a direct communication through Russia's air space between cities that had previously not had such links. In essence, they proposed new aviation lines, i.e. four polar air routes. International air carriers were the first to support the idea.
        The new international air routes were to pass over the Arctic Ocean. The delegation proposed the shortest flight routes between North America and South East Asia. A decree from the Russian Federation prepared various demonstration flights between North America and India/Pakistan; between North America and Burma / Kampuchea / Malaysia / Singapore / Thailand / Indonesia; between North America and China / Hong Kong / Taiwan / South Korea. The demonstration flights were to be undertaken by U.S. air carriers to identify the operating characteristics and flight conditions along the new routes. According to calculations made by several air carriers, these new routes would save them roughly 100 million USD a year.
        The results from the demonstration flights were positive. They proved it was possible to maintain international air traffic at low temperatures. In late April this year, a decision was made to continue demonstration flights until October 1st. Regular polar flights will soon open.