Mongolia lifted its ban on several Russian civil airline companies to enter Mongolian air space, according to the Mongolian Civil Aviation Authority (MCAA).

"On Feb. 3, the administrators of some Russian civil aviation companies have made commitments to pay their past dues for over-flight navigations," said S. Batmonkh, chairman of the MCAA, told media on Feb. 6.

On Feb. 2, a A319 plane of the Russian S7 Sibir airline company, flying en-route from Beijing to Novosibirsk, was flown back to Beijing after Mongolia's air traffic controllers banned the plane from crossing the country's air space.

"The Russian companies owe over a billion togrogs in debt to Mongolia. They stated they will transfer the payment within near future. For example; a Novosibirsk-based airline company already owes US$350,000." said Batmonkh.

According to international air navigation laws and regulations, foreign carriers flying over the territory of a country are obliged to pay a user fee to that country for using air traffic control system.

Over 30 foreign airlines fly over the territory of Mongolia, including Air China, Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Korean Air, British Airways, United Airlines, Lufthansa and so on.

The volume of over-flying traffic has increased by more than 10 percent annually in the last three years. Over-flying traffic operates mostly between European locations, China and Korea. On average, Mongolia gets around 100 over-flying flights per day.