U.S., Soviets Discuss Resumption of Airline Flights Between 2 Nations

The United States and Soviet Union are discussing resumption of airline flights between the two countries as part of complicated negotiations aimed at protecting airliners from straying into Soviet territory.

The talks, which include Japan, were spurred by the disaster involving Korean Air Lines Flight 007 on Sept. 1, 1983.

Unaccountably 310 miles off course, the plane was shot down by Soviet fighters over Soviet territory, and the 269 people aboard were killed. The incident terminated the possibility that tension between the superpowers might have eased before the U.S. election campaign.

U.S. government sources said a new security agreement could provide direct communication between U.S. or Japanese civil air-traffic controllers and Soviet authorities if a plane wanders off course on heavily traveled North Pacific routes between Anchorage and Tokyo.

“We’re basically talking about procedures to be followed in an abnormal situation,” one source said.

Various technical possibilities are under discussion, ranging from a type of hot line to electronic navigation checkpoints provided by the Soviets for airliners.

Several tripartite meetings were held between Feb. 26 and March 3. A second series is pending.

Sources described the negotiations as sensitive and said they include technical and political issues.

Another source said “there is direct linkage” between achieving an agreement and permitting Aeroflot, the Soviet airline, to resume flights to the United States. “Aeroflot has wanted to get back in from the day we threw them out,” the source said.

President Reagan suspended all U.S.-bound Soviet flights Dec. 29, 1981, as partial retaliation for what he described as Soviet “repression in Poland.”