Seven Russian airlines cut state subsidies due to “underflight”

Rosaviatsia will redistribute 3 billion rubles. subsidies between 12 airlines that exceeded the declared volumes for passenger transportation, the agency’s press service reported on September 14.

The funds were released due to the fact that seven carriers could not carry the agreed number of passengers, their subsidies were reduced as a result of checks, a source in the industry regulator told Vedomosti. In total, 100 billion rubles were allocated to airlines to stimulate domestic air traffic in the period from April to October 2022.

Most of the budget money – 2.4 billion rubles, or a third of the original amount – will have to be returned to the airlines “UTair“. Subsidizing “Alrosa” and “Yakutia” will be reduced by 299 million rubles. and 294 million rubles. accordingly, it follows from the documents of Rosaviatsia published on Wednesday. Other carriers will also return part of the state support: UVT-Aero – 27 million rubles, Vityaz-Aero – 16 million rubles, Yamal – 4.7 million rubles, Vologda Aviation Enterprise – 497,000 rubles .

Vedomosti sent inquiries to these airlines.

The decision to subsidize Russian carriers for 100 billion rubles. was adopted back in April 2022. In June, the Federal Air Transport Agency distributed these funds among 32 airlines, half of the subsidies were received by the group “Aeroflot“. In July of this year, according to the statement of the department, 35.8 billion rubles were transferred to air carriers.

To receive state support, airlines must fulfill at least 80% of their declared traffic volume. Thus, seven Russian airlines failed to reach the minimum threshold for maintaining subsidies. According to the rules for providing funds, if this indicator is not met, the subsidy is returned to the federal budget. If the volume of traffic is not achieved by one airline, but is performed by the whole group, the subsidy remains.

According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, this measure of state support should keep passenger traffic on domestic airlines at the level of last year. At the same time, the goal for domestic passenger traffic for airlines is 90 million people, for international – 10 million people, according to the program for the development of the aviation industry until 2030.

Nevertheless, in January-August, the volume of air transportation decreased by 12% compared to the same period last year (Vedomosti wrote about this on September 12). Then the source of Vedomosti in one of the airlines explained the reduction in air traffic by the loss of popular tourist destinations due to the closure of 11 airports in southern Russia and the inability to fly abroad.

State support for the aviation industry was not limited to 100 billion rubles for carriers. Airlines also received 19.4 billion rubles. for the return of tickets for flights canceled due to external restrictions. Another 2.9 billion rubles. was distributed among cargo airlines. Airports in southern Russia closed after the start of the NWO received 3.79 billion rubles of budget funds.

Oleg Panteleev, director of the Aviaport branch agency, considers the decision to redirect state subsidies to other carriers expedient. Roman Gusarov, editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal, agrees with him, adding that the task of subsidizing is “to encourage those who are ready to fly.”

Gusarov notes that a number of airlines have significantly increased transportation within the country. This, according to the expert, was influenced by dynamic demand, tourist cashback and the reduction of international routes. Nevertheless, according to Panteleev, airlines have very few instruments in their hands to stimulate demand for transportation. The expert notes that sales were in effect during the high season, but now airlines will face a decrease in demand for air tickets.