Page 111 - RusRPTFeb21

9.1.3​ Aviation sector news
Russia is launching domestic procedures to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies​, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on January 15, as reported by ​TASS​. Washington’s move to pull out of the treaty disrupted the balance of interests between the treaty participants and undermined the treaty’s role in ensuring trust and security. Washington for years blamed Moscow for selectively implementing the Treaty on Open Skies and violating a number of its provisions. Russia, in turn, expressed grievances related to Washington’s implementation of the treaty. In 2017, Washington imposed restrictions on Russian observation flights over U.S. territory, triggering a tit-for-tat response from Moscow. The US pulled out of the Treaty on Open Skies on November 22, 2020.
Sheremetyevo​ International Airport was Europe’s fifth-busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic in 2020, ​following Istanbul’s new airport, Roissy – Charles de Gaulle in Paris, London Heathrow and Amsterdam’s Schiphol, according to Bloomberg​. Heathrow had been first among European airports, but suffered a 73% decrease in passenger traffic due to lockdowns and border closures stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, which affected all airports. Most Western European airports experienced a decline in passenger traffic of 70% or more in 2020, but ​Sheremetyevo​ and Istanbul’s reductions were smaller, resulting in their rise in the ranking. Sheremetyevo served 19,784,000 passengers in 2020, compared to 49.9 million in 2019, and performed 186,383
111 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ February 2021 www.intellinews.com