Rosaviatsia promises to keep subsidized flights to socially important destinations

The Federal Air Transport Agency, together with airlines, is adjusting the route network subsidized under the program for performing regional flights bypassing Moscow, due to cuts in state support. Subsidized flights to the most socially significant destinations will be preserved, reported department in its Telegram channel.

“In connection with the optimization of financing for the program of subsidizing regional transportation, the Federal Air Transport Agency, together with airlines and in cooperation with the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, is working to adjust the route network in order to maintain subsidized flights in the most socially significant directions,” the report says.

The Federal Air Transport Agency also noted that it recommended that air carriers proceed from the principle of effective redistribution of budget funds and maintaining an acceptable level of air transportation availability when revising routes. The agency is analyzing the formed route network, and then will prepare a list of subsidized regional routes and additional proposals.

Earlier today, the Izvestia newspaper found out that this year the subsidizing of the program decreased from 9 billion to 7.5 billion rubles, due to which airlines began to cancel domestic flights. According to one of the sources of the publication, the Federal Air Transport Agency approached the issue “formally”, removing from the program those routes for which carriers have not yet concluded agreements on co-financing flights with regional authorities. At the same time, some routes were signed only at the beginning of summer due to the fact that the budget process is arranged differently in the regions.

As a result, most of the flights excluded from the program fell on the Omsk and Tyumen regions, Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Dagestan and North Ossetia.

How wrote On May 3, Vedomosti reduced subsidies to airports in southern Russia closed due to a special operation. According to one of the sources, almost 2.5 billion rubles have been agreed to be allocated to 11 closed airports. for the past Q1 2023 from the government reserve fund. Last year, about 7.5 billion rubles were allocated to support them.