Washington: US carriers are seeking the State Department's help as agreements to cross Russian airspace expire and both sides wait on the other to set a date to resume negotiations.

US airline executives will gather on Tuesday (US time) with Manisha Singh, the US assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, after Russia's Transportation Ministry pulled out of talks set for Wednesday and Thursday and asked the US to suggest new dates, according to a senior State Department official.

A pair of American Airlines jets Credit:AP

The Trump administration was working to reschedule the meeting as soon as possible, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

European and North American airlines make hundreds of trips weekly over eastern Russia, the quickest and cheapest route to East Asia. Russia has sought to use the flights as a source of leverage over the West, announcing a review of foreign carriers' use of the airspace in 2014 as part of a tit-for-tat dispute over Ukraine.