MOSCOW, March 25 - RAPSI. The Federal Air Transport Agency is negotiating an agreement on standardizing security checks at Russian and EU airports, according to which Russian nationals transiting from one European country to another may be able to travel without repeat security screenings at European airports, Izvestia newspaper writes.
The talks on this issue were initiated by the Aeroflot and Volga-Dnepr air carriers, a representative of the agency told Izvestia.
The document has been sent to the Transport Ministry for further development. It proposes to allow Russian airlines to "avoid additional security checks at EU airports, which often lead to flight delays," the agency said in its performance report for 2012. Further screenings should also be cancelled for Russian transit passengers.
The Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed that they are negotiating this issue and that the final wording of the agreement is being coordinated.
Flight delays due to security checks are the longest at French and German airports, an agency spokesperson said.
The concept of one stop security, which provides for screening people for prohibited items only once, at the beginning of their journey, is not set out in the Russian legislation.
A source with close ties in the Transport Ministry said that this agreement does not stipulate any concessions for European transit passengers at Russian airports.