Airlines want to introduce annual indexation of subsidies for regional transportation

As Kommersant learned, airlines want to introduce annual indexation of subsidies for regional transportation, which have not been recalculated for ten years. Among the proposals prepared by S7 and partially supported by other carriers are doubling the maximum length of flights on which special tariffs apply to 3 thousand km, and updating the list of routes. At the same time, SJ-100 operators opposed the idea of ​​canceling their priority when choosing a subsidy recipient. Experts believe that now the authorities are unlikely to increase government funding, but they share the idea of ​​securing routes for at least three years.

S7 Airlines proposed increasing tariffs or subsidies for regional transportation, as well as reconsidering approaches to routes, their length and duration of subsidies. We are talking about government resolutions No. 1242 (flights between regions bypassing Moscow) and No. 215 (between the central regions and the Far Eastern Federal District, Kaliningrad and Crimea). The draft changes were presented at the Strategic Civil Aviation Forum by Konstantin Pyankov, Deputy General Director for S7 Production. The proposals are planned to be sent to the Federal Air Transport Agency.

Kommersant’s interlocutor at the Ministry of Transport clarified that the initiative will be discussed at the next meeting on regional transportation in the Federation Council. Officially, the ministry declined to comment.

One of the key proposals concerns the indexation of tariffs or the amount of subsidies. They have not been revised since the advent of program No. 1242 in 2013. Now the flight pays off only when the load is more than 85%, they added to S7 and confirmed several interlocutors in other companies.

Considering the annual increase in costs, the indexation of the subsidy program “can be considered justified,” Red Wings (part of Rostec) told Kommersant, adding that it is necessary to avoid a jump in prices for passengers. Azimuth supports indexing only with an “increase in budget funding” in order to avoid a reduction in the number of routes.

In addition, S7 proposed assigning subsidized routes to carriers for several years. The annual determination “from scratch leads to an unpredictable list of routes and a dispersion of funding on low-frequency routes.” As a result, “low utilization of funds is chronically observed, creating a false impression that the program is not in demand.” This idea is shared by Kommersant’s interlocutors at other airlines.

S7 also considers it necessary to prioritize applications for routes running through large hubs, since this will increase the overall passenger flow: “A flight, for example, from Nizhnekamsk to Novosibirsk covers passengers flying not only to Novosibirsk, but through it to all cities Far Eastern Federal District, most of Siberia, and the flight from Nizhnekamsk to Chelyabinsk is exclusively a connection between two cities.”

However, Kommersant’s sources in two companies, as well as in Red Wings, did not agree with this, where they believe that “the development of flights between large hubs is possible with a lower level of government support.”

Another proposal is to double the length of subsidized flights, to 3 thousand km, and increase aircraft capacity from a maximum of 103 to 164 seats. Azimuth noted that they support the point about the length of the route, but Red Wings emphasized that the goal of the 1242 program is primarily to support short-haul transportation, which would be impossible without a subsidy, “and not a way to increase margins.”

Finally, in both resolutions, S7 proposes to cancel or suspend the priority of carriers with domestic aircraft (now the regulator gives preference to the subsidy applicant who will operate flights on a Russian-made aircraft no older than 14 years). “The choice of a carrier should be based on which aircraft is the most commercially effective on a given route,” says S7.

As expected, almost all SSJ-100 operators opposed this. Pavel Udod, head of the board of directors of Azimuth, whose fleet consists only of SSJs, emphasized that it is important to preserve the priority of Russian technology, as well as other “time-proven parameters of the program.” Red Wings added that “Russian regional airliners are best suited for short-haul flights to lightly loaded destinations.” In “Russia” they limited themselves to the statement that the airline’s aircraft “of both Russian and Western production” fly on subsidized routes. Aeroflot declined to comment.

A source among experts notes that the programs really need to update their financial parameters. But against the backdrop of discussions about cutting budget spending on the aviation industry in 2024, a revision of the subsidy volume seems unlikely to him. At the same time, he admits the possibility of an increase in tariffs for passengers. The expert also notes that “the desire to build a large-capacity mainline fleet with subsidies” on routes up to 3 thousand km is “understandable,” but contradicts the idea of ​​the program: “A flight on a 160-seat airliner with good occupancy and proper planning will bring profit even without subsidies.” .

All regional subsidies were created to increase the connectivity of subjects among themselves and perform a social function, agrees Fedor Borisov, an expert at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. Therefore, he considers the abandonment of low-frequency flights unacceptable and notes that local transportation is especially in need of additional funding as it is the most socially significant and at the same time “commercially unpromising.”

At the same time, the expert agrees that the annual re-approval of the list of routes and the choice of airlines interferes with the development of regular passenger traffic and complicates long-term planning for carriers. According to Mr. Borisov, the directions should be fixed for at least three years, and preferably for five years.

Aigul Abdullina