SSJ fly away from Yakutia – Newspaper Kommersant No. 205 (7406) of 11/07/2022

As it became known to Kommersant, the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK) offered other airlines to purchase SSJ 100 Yakutia. According to the lessor, the carrier has accumulated a debt of 1.6 billion rubles, and has not fulfilled the restructuring agreement. Yakutia says that negotiations are ongoing and hope to keep the fleet. Experts note that there will be buyers for SSJ in the current conditions.

STLC is going to unilaterally terminate leasing contracts for SSJs with Yakutia and has already offered several aircraft to other airlines operating Superjets, a source in the company told Kommersant. According to him, the decision is due to “serious violations of payment discipline.” Now Yakutia has four SSJs from STLC – two are flying, two are out of airworthiness.

Kommersant’s sources in IrAero and Azimuth confirmed that they received such an offer about a month ago. STLC announced the “possibility of transferring to a new lessee” three aircraft aged seven and eight years in the layout for 103 seats. According to him, the lessor was ready to deliver two serviceable aircraft in the fall, and promised to complete the maintenance of the third before the end of the year. IrAero, Aeroflot and Rossiya, the largest SSJ operator (74 aircraft), refrained from commenting.

The general director of Azimut, Pavel Udod, said that he was not considering receiving Yakutia aircraft. The potential interest of “Kommersant” was confirmed only in Red Wings (in the fleet of 17 SSJs): “As the most efficient operator of the SSJ 100 type, we are considering all possibilities to increase the fleet, including options with remarketed aircraft.”

In addition to the SSJ from STLC, Yakutia also had one Superjet from VEB Leasing, but it lost its airworthiness after a hard landing in October 2018. According to the Federal Air Transport Agency and Flightradar24, excluding the SSJ, Yakutia still has four Boeing 737-700/800s (one has been in Vnukovo since October) and four DHC-8s.

In October 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and STLC already threatened Yakutia with the withdrawal of the SSJ if it did not solve problems with their maintenance. At the same time, STLC announced negotiations with Yakutia on debt restructuring for more than 1 billion rubles. As Kommersant was told at STLC, the debt of Yakutia reached 1.6 billion rubles, “the airline makes current payments in part.” They noted that the parties entered into a number of restructuring agreements, “but the airline did not fulfill their conditions,” although about 1.5 billion rubles were allocated from the regional budget in 2021-2022 to Yakutia. to maintain airworthiness and another 0.5 billion rubles. to recover leasing costs.

STLC plans to conduct a technical audit of defective aircraft “to determine the possibility of bringing them into a state of airworthiness and assess the cost of these works”, contracts with Yakutia on them “are planned to be terminated.” STLC did not comment on proposals for the supply of SSJ to other customers.

In Yakutia, Kommersant was told that “the issue of restructuring is still under discussion and agreement with STLC.” The company “is confident that all positions will be agreed between the parties in the near future,” while “all aircraft that can be allowed to operate must remain in the fleet.” The process was delayed due to the problems that arose “due to the impact of the sanctions” on restoring the airworthiness of two SSJs. “Nevertheless, with the participation of PJSC Irkut and the UEC, technical decisions have already been made to restore one aircraft,” Yakutia specified. The company noted that since 2018 they had encountered technical defects in the vessel, “aircraft began to idle, expensive unscheduled engine repairs were carried out,” which, coupled with the covid crisis, led to debts.

At the end of October, the authorities of Yakutia signed an agreement on the transfer of 25% of the shares of the carrier airline Aurora. At the same time, according to SPARK, Yakutia was unprofitable in 2018 and after a small profit of 140 million rubles. for 2019 received 2.8 billion rubles. loss in 2020 and almost 610 million rubles. in 2021 As Kommersant’s source in the expert community noted, if the company’s last two SSJs are taken away, “it will continue to fly at a loss” and “does not seem viable even as an image project of the republic.” He sees the only way out as the liquidation of Yakutia and the transfer of its fleet to Aurora.

Fyodor Borisov, an expert at the HSE Institute for Transport Economics and Transport Policy, argues that the carrier can work “with a very limited fleet.” The fate of Yakutia, in his opinion, will depend on the position of the regional authorities and Aurora. Kommersant sent a request to the government of Yakutia, Aurora and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The financial terms under which STLC offered carriers to purchase SSJs are not disclosed by Kommersant’s interlocutors. The government subsidizes leasing rates for SSJs in the first years of operation, so the difference between the rates for new and old aircraft before the sanctions was “almost imperceptible,” Kommersant’s sources in the leasing market say: “It was more profitable for carriers to take a new aircraft.”

But now the demand for aircraft that are not subject to sanctions risks for flights abroad will be so great that it will not be difficult to attach them, Oleg Panteleev, head of Aviaport, believes. In addition to cost, he notes, the service history and operational documentation of each vessel will be of decisive importance. But if the operation of “Superjets” with foreign components will become “more and more difficult and expensive”, then, the expert believes, carriers will prefer to wait for the appearance of an imported SSJ.

Aigul Abdullina