China, Japan likely to settle aviation talks
(Kyodo)
Updated: 2006-07-07 06:53 Japan and China appear likely to settle their
stalled aviation talks next week with a 20 percent increase in the volume of
passenger flights between the two countries, sources close to the negotiations
said Thursday.
The agreement, which is also expected to include a twofold
increase in the volume of cargo flights, is likely to be inked when Minister of
Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kazuo Kitagawa meets with Chinese aviation
officials in Beijing next Thursday, they said.
The accord is expected to be implemented this fall.
Japan and China are expected to settle the talks through an increase in the
volume of passenger flights by the equivalent of 90 270-seater flights per week
from the current 450 flights and by a twofold increase in cargo traffic from 76
flights at present, the sources.
The expected agreement will also include an increase in the number of
airlines flying on the Sino-Japanese routes to 13 for each country. Currently,
three Japanese airlines -- Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Nippon Cargo
Airlines -- and six Chinese aviation companies engage in the services.
The two countries will likely agree to add two cities each to those used for
the flight services which are currently accessible at Narita International
Airport and airports in six other cities in Japan -- Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka,
Sapporo, Sendai and Hiroshima --and 14 airports in China, including those in
Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
With regard to China's call for Japan to accept more Chinese flights at busy
airports such as Narita, Japan is expected to allocate additional landing slots
at them primarily for flight services between the two countries in order to
remove one of the major obstacles to the bilateral aviation talks.
Japan and China last concluded an aviation agreement in August 2003, under
which current flight services are conducted. The current round of aviation talks
started in January 2005.
Air traffic between Japan and China has kept increasing, with the number of
passengers rising to 6.66 million in fiscal 2004 from 4.02 million the previous
year.
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