Aurora idle payments – Newspaper Kommersant No. 201 (7402) dated 10/28/2022

As Kommersant learned, the Accounts Chamber notified the government about the risk of overstating budget subsidies to Aurora. Auditors suspect the incorrect accrual of almost 900 million rubles. assistance in 2022, as well as payments already made for 600 million rubles. for 2021–2022. The problem is that when calculating payments, the carrier indicated the cost of the flight on its aircraft, although in fact, flights were partially operated by other code-share carriers. Payments for a number of flights exceeded the cost, and some were not at all. Aurora also received money for flights from Krasnoyarsk, which is not formally included in the support program.

The Accounts Chamber (AC) checked the correctness of the budget payments of the “unified Far Eastern airline” Aurora (created in 2021 on the basis of the carrier of the same name) based on the criteria and components of subsidies for flights on socially significant routes of the Far Eastern Federal District. As follows from a letter to First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov dated August 26 (Kommersant has it), the agency identified risks of about 870 million rubles. unjustified payments at the end of 2022. The joint venture recommended that the government instruct the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency to verify these facts.

In total, Rosaviatsia allocated 5.9 billion rubles for the program on 36 routes for 2022 to Aurora. Cash execution on October 26 exceeded 3.7 billion rubles. But “a significant number of subsidized flights are not operating” due to a lack of aircraft and infrastructure at small airports, the joint venture notes (the audit ended on May 1).

There is no methodology for calculating the amount of the subsidy, the document says. Payments in 2021–2022 were based on Aurora data, “which, according to the joint venture, are overstated.” For a number of routes, the auditors explain, the amount of the subsidy for the flight was determined based on the Aurora fleet (including, in particular, expensive Western aircraft – Airbus A319 and Canadian DHC-6/8). But in fact, part of the flights are operated by code-share by other airlines. From their fleet, the joint venture compared data on the An-24/26, Yak-40, Yakutia SSJ 100, Czech L-410 and Mi-8 helicopters and concluded that the prime cost taken into account when calculating the subsidy exceeds the actual one.

According to the results of the implementation of the agreement between the Federal Air Transport Agency and Aurora, the joint venture concluded, “there are risks of overstatement of subsidies from the federal budget by 828.5 million rubles.”

The director of the Angara airline, with which Aurora works on code-sharing, Sergey Salamatov confirmed to Kommersant that the price of the flight quoted by the auditors is correct. Thus, the cost of a paired flight Khabarovsk-Chita on An-24 is estimated by them at 1.9 million rubles, and the amount of the subsidy for it is 2.03 million. The reduction or absence of subsidies would lead to a forced increase in transportation tariffs, emphasizes Mr. Salamatov. However, he clarifies, Angara receives less than half of the funds.

In addition, the joint venture questioned “taking into account the targeted nature of the subsidy” the correctness of including flights to Krasnoyarsk, which is not part of the Far Eastern Federal District, in it. For them, the letter states, in 2021 Aurora received 166.7 million rubles, and in January-April 2022 – already 140.8 million. Another 112 million rubles. “Aurora” received for flights on the route Krasnoyarsk-Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, which is not included in the list of socially significant. At the time of publication, the joint venture and the Federal Air Transport Agency did not respond to Kommersant, the head of Aurora, Konstantin Sukhorebrik, was unavailable for a call.

A Kommersant source in the government’s transport bloc said that the Ministry of Transport “has been notified of the results of the inspection.” The ministry declined to clarify whether the proposed joint venture had begun an audit, noting only that “all Far Eastern regions on the airline’s board of directors have identified a route network that includes, among other things, routes to Krasnoyarsk,” which “creates additional opportunities to ensure connectivity Far East Federal District with Central Russia and the south of the country.

The Federal Air Transport Agency, as the main manager of the subsidy, has the right to independently initiate checks on the targeted use of budget funds, Vladislav Rikov, adviser to BGP Litigation, notes, but it will rely on existing calculations, the methodology of which the joint venture proposes to clarify.

If the misuse of budgetary funds is revealed, all surpluses are subject to return, the lawyer adds, the organization can be held administratively liable, and its officials in some cases – criminally.

Aigul Abdullina