US embassy cable - 05PARIS5947

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