ON MARCH 1 REGULAR NEW YORK-HONG KONG SERVICE OPENED VIA RUSSIA'S POLAR REGIONS








MOSCOW, March 1, 2001. /RIA Novosti's correspondent Eduard Puzyrev/. On March 1 the US Continental Airlines Co. opened regular service from New York to Hong Kong /Hsiangkang/ along one of the four cross-polar routes passing above the  Arctic Ocean and the Russian territory. 


	The company has joined the American and Canadian airlines which have been using these routes since February 1, when they were opened. 


	On March 3 a liner of another American airline, Delta, will make its first charter flight to Asia, the RIA Novosti correspondent learnt on Thursday at the State Civil Aviation Service at the Russian Transport Ministry. 


	"Air routes across the polar regions of our country from North America to countries of South-East Asia are the shortest", said the Civil Aviation Service. Airliners save several hours of flight, which means the saving of fuel and their technical resources. "On certain routes economy may come to 3,000 dollars in one flight", explained the service. 


	Now Russian ground services ensure the passage of two or three foreign aircraft an hour. Each 100 kilometers of overfly above Russia costs an average of 50 dollars. 


	Russia may get up to 18 million dollars a year for servicing the foreign companies on the cross-Polar routes, said the State Civil Aviation Service.