AEROFLOT'S first Hongkong general manager has criticised the extraordinary lengths to which Russian flight crews must go in order to get visas for the territory.
Pilots and cabin attendants must individually apply for multiple entry visas to the British embassy in Moscow because Russia has no embassy in the territory and the UK no high commission.
Once they get the green light from immigration, the application goes to the Foreign Office in London and then back to Moscow.
The whole process takes six to eight weeks.
To make matters worse, they can only obtain three-month multiple entry visas for Hongkong, whereas they can get year-long visas to countries such as Japan and the UK.
Aeroflot has made a formal request to the British embassy in Moscow asking that the system be reviewed.