Russia on Friday granted permission to Lufthansa Cargo to resume flights over its airspace for two weeks but continued to pressure the German carrier to move its Asian hub from Kazakhstan to Siberia.

The Russian Ministry of Transport said it had decided to extend temporary permission to Lufthansa Cargo to overfly Russian territory through Nov. 15 "until the official confirmation from the German side of the selection of an airport for transit landings".

Moscow banned the carrier's flights Oct. 29, forcing the airline to re-route its 49 weekly services and adding three hours to a roundtrip between Europe and the Far East to its hub in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Russia wants Lufthansa Cargo to re-route its Asia-bound flights from Astana, the carrier's second-largest freight hub after Frankfurt, to Krasnoyarsk airport in Siberia.

Lufthansa says moving its hub to Krasnoyarsk is not a realistic option because the Siberian airport lacks suitable infrastructure and planes can't land in thick fog.

"The talks with the Russian Transport ministry will continue," said German Federal Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee. "A main topic in these talks will be a timetable for the move of Lufthansa Cargo to the Russian airport of Krasnojarsk. Precondition for this move is the creation of an infrastructure that enables planes to land under all weather conditions. We are confident that, on the long term, we will reach a good solution for both the Russian and the German side."

The German government stopped Russia's Aeroflot Cargo from flying over its territory on Monday but lifted the ban the following day.

The European Union negotiated an agreement with Russia under which Moscow will phase out overfly charges on EU flights to Asia -- currently around $480 million annually -- beginning in 2013. But the accord has not yet been signed.

Bruce Barnard
Journal of Commerce
Robert Moorman contributed reporting for this article.