P.M. BRIEFING : U.S.-Soviet Airline Pact Reached to Triple Number of Passengers

An agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union that could triple the number of airline passengers between the two countries will be signed at this week’s summit meeting, a U.S. official said today.

About 140,000 passengers flew between the two countries in 1989. With increasingly flexible Soviet travel restrictions under President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Soviet travelers on the U.S.-Soviet route now outnumber Americans two to one.

The central issue in the negotiations, which have been under way since last year, was the percentage of tickets on American carriers outbound from the Soviet Union that can be paid for in Soviet rubles.

The Soviets initially asked that ruble-paying fliers be limited to 2% of the total.

The United States, hoping to open the market further to Soviet travelers who must pay in rubles, had pressed for 15%.

At a bargaining session Sunday, a compromise was reached when the two sides agreed that up to 8.75% of the seats on U.S. carriers could be paid for in rubles, said the U.S. official, who asked not to be identified.

Pan American and Aeroflot, the sole airlines now offering the service, make limited weekly flights to and from Moscow, Leningrad, New York and Washington.

The new agreement will let up to six additional U.S. airlines fly between the two countries and will let a second Soviet airline join the competition if one is formed, the U.S. official said.