It is no secret that Norwegian wants access to fly across northern Russia. The trans-Siberian routes open up opportunities in North Asia, including Japan, China and Korea. And the Russians know this. The country is a notoriously tough negotiator when it comes to gaining access to those routes. Some might even claim extortionate. Oh, and the country has a maligned small airplane that it would like to see selling better, perhaps flying more outside of its home carriers. What are the odds??