Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2012

Advanced Economic Cooperationin Sectors and IndustriesThe share of civil aviation in total freight transportation between EurAsECcountries is insignificant (see Table 10.3). In 2010, air cargo transported betweenthe member states stood at 15,000 tonnes, or 0.03% of the total (excludinggoods transported by pipeline).Table 10.3.Scheduledand non-scheduledcargo and mailtraffic betweenEurAsEC memberstates (tonnes)Source: InterstateAviation CommitteeNote: N/A – data notavailableCountry Belarus Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Russia TajikistanTotalexportBelarus N/A N/A N/A N/A N/AKazakhstan N/A 13 1,458 5 N/AKyrgyzstan N/A N/A 746 11 N/ARussia 53 5,388 2,386 653 N/ATajikistan N/A 79 8 1,274 N/ATotalimportN/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/AAt the same time, cargo transit through EurAsEC (i.e., with a transit stop in itsinternational airports) by national and foreign airlines totalled approximately400,000 tonnes per year.According to the Boeing Corporation (Boeing Corporation, 2010), an additionalthree million tonnes of transit cargoes are transported between Asia and Europethrough EurAsEC by traditional passenger airlines (in baggage holds of passengeraircraft), cargo carriers and airmail companies.Air transportation accounts for approximately 3% of tonnage and up to 15%of the value of all cargo traffic between Europe and Asia. For the past 20years, these figures have been growing and increases in air cargo traffic havebeen significantly higher than increases in passenger traffic. The undisputableadvantages of transporting freight by air between Europe and Asia are its speed(several hours), point-to-point delivery and high quality (accuracy and safety).Significant efforts are being made to shorten on-ground processing, which oftenaccounts for around 90% of delivery time.As well as being affected by general economic factors, the air freighttransportation market is influenced by the widespread use of safe and fuelefficientaircraft, as well as changes in international trade patterns (in particular,an increase in the proportion of highly processed products).Attracting Europe-Asia transit flows to EurAsEC air routes is important for threemain reasons:1. Levying additional air navigation charges for transit flights will help improveair traffic services (ATS) and air traffic management (ATM) infrastructure inEurAsEC member states;166 EDB Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2012