U.S. Proposes Soviet Talks on Renewed Airline Service

The Administration has proposed discussions with Moscow on resumption of direct air travel between the United States and the Soviet Union, the State Department said today.

A date for the discussions has not been agreed on, the department said in a statement.

The New York Times reported earlier that Washington suggested the talks begin Sept. 16.

President Reagan canceled all landing rights for the Soviet state airline, Aeroflot, after Moscow pressured Poland to impose martial law in 1981.

“The United States has informed the Soviets we are prepared to begin discussions on civil aviation matters, including the question of resuming direct air service between the two countries,” the official said.

The decision to go ahead with the aviation talks before Reagan’s November summit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev was part of a policy advocated by Secretary of State George P. Shultz. Shultz felt that the summit meeting should be more than a get-acquainted session and argued that it was important to use the occasion to make progress on outstanding issues, Administration officials told the newspaper Tuesday.

A new civil aviation agreement is among several accords that could be ready in time for the Nov. 29-30 summit in Geneva, State Department officials said.

The officials said that there is little likelihood of progress on arms control or regional issues but that substantive accords on civil aviation, cultural, scientific, technical exchanges, and on consular affairs could help put relations on a sounder basis.