Subsidies cut three times for airports closed due to special operation – Kommersant

Subsidies to closed airports in the south of Russia in 2023 decreased by three times, report Vedomosti with reference to sources. In 2022, about 7.5 billion rubles were allocated to support 11 airports.

According to one of the sources, the allocation of almost 2.5 billion rubles has been agreed to the airports. for the past first quarter of 2023 from the government reserve fund. Another interlocutor of the newspaper did not name a specific amount, but said that it would be three times less than last year. He justified the decrease in funding by the fact that the airports did not fully utilize the allocated funds last year.

Since the beginning of the military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the Federal Air Transport Agency has limited flights to 11 airports in southern Russia. The airports of Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol and Elista are closed. The ban on flights in them has been repeatedly extended, now it is valid until May 9.

In 2022, airport subsidies were increased three times. In April, more than 1.5 billion rubles were allocated from the reserve fund to compensate for the costs of closed airports, in May the amount was increased to 3 billion, in August – by almost 2.5 billion more, in October – by 2 billion rubles.

In April, the Association of Air Transport Operators applied to the Ministry of Transport with a proposal to consider extending the subsidy to air carriers for 100 billion rubles. until October. The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Finance confirmed that they are considering the option of maintaining state support for domestic transportation for the summer season.

Details – in the material “Kommersant” “Aviators got used to the budget”.

Laura Keffer