"Superjet" is asked to make room - Newspaper Kommersant No. 222 (7423) dated 11/30/2022

"Superjet" is asked to make room - Newspaper Kommersant No. 222 (7423) dated 11/30/2022



As Kommersant found out, the Association of Air Transport Operators (AEVT) is evaluating scenarios for increasing subsidies for regional flights, which now amount to about 21 billion rubles. in year. The catalyst was an offer by Icarus (formerly Pegas Fly) to raise rates by 30% and eliminate subsidy privileges for SSJ operators, as these aircraft are now actively flying abroad. The latter idea caused controversy among market participants.

According to Kommersant, the Ikar airline (the former name of Pegas Fly, is associated with Pegas Touristik, a businessman of Turkish origin Ramazan Akpinar) proposed to cancel preferences for SSJ operators when receiving subsidies for regional transportation within the Russian Federation "due to their high demand for flights abroad. In addition, the carrier considers it necessary to increase subsidies by 30%.

A letter from the general director of Ikar, Pyotr Solovyov, was sent to the AEVT in mid-November (Kommersant has it). The head of the AEVT, Vladimir Tasun, confirmed to Kommersant that "a contour of airline proposals has been formed to change both government decrees" and "an additional study of justifications and financial calculations is required, which can be sent for approval to the Ministry of Transport."

Ikar asks to cancel the priority that operators of domestic equipment use when distributing subsidies under Decrees No. 1242 (for flights bypassing Moscow) and No. 215 (flights between the European part of the Russian Federation and the Far East, Crimea and Kaliningrad).

Now, if requests are received for one route from several carriers, the Federal Air Transport Agency chooses the one who has domestic aircraft.

In 2023, 17 carriers will receive 9 billion rubles. subsidies for flights to 308 destinations bypassing Moscow. The budget for 2024 and 2025 provides for similar amounts. According to Decree No. 215, which does not include Crimea in 2023, airlines will receive 12.3 billion rubles for transportation between the European part of the Russian Federation, the Far East and Kaliningrad, the same amount in 2024 and 11.8 billion rubles. in 2025.

Ikar proposed to increase "at least 30%" both the subsidies themselves and the maximum allowable tariffs fixed in the regulations. Rates for regional transportation, the carrier notes, have not been indexed since the end of 2013: according to Rosstat, since then inflation in the service sector has amounted to 55%. Aviators polled by Kommersant support the growth of subsidies. In one of the large companies, they proposed to index them by 30% one-time and then increase them annually by the amount of inflation. Icarus declined to comment, while NordWind, affiliated with it, supports the idea of ​​colleagues.

However, opinions were divided regarding the removal of priority for SSJ.

S7 considers it right to evaluate the priority based on the "effectiveness of the use of budgetary funds", without specifying the details. IrAero, which has a fleet of seven SSJs (subsidized flights also operate on Airbus A319 and An-24/26), supported the abolition of preferences, since the aircraft are in demand on international routes. The change, they believe, will give companies "more opportunities to develop a regional network on other types of aircraft."

On the other hand, Red Wings opposes deprioritization of SSJs: this “will undoubtedly lead to a decrease in the amount of subsidies received for interregional flights by Russian ships, and may lead to an increase in the cost of transportation.” “This priority is the only tool for competitive protection of existing routes for regional airlines and maintaining a socially oriented level of tariffs,” the company told Kommersant. The head of the board of directors of Azimuth, Pavel Udod, told Kommersant that both resolutions "have been verified by time and do not need to be adjusted."

The Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency declined to comment, while Aeroflot did not respond. But a Kommersant source in the ministry noted that an increase in subsidies is possible “only if federal budget allocations are increased,” otherwise “this will lead to a reduction in the number of subsidized routes.” Indexation of subsidies for both programs “would be good support for the industry,” but contradicts the original goal of the Ministry of Transport “to roll out regional flights until a stable passenger flow is achieved without subsidies,” says Oleg Panteleev, head of Aviaport. A compromise, in his opinion, could be an increase in the size of the subsidy for remote and hard-to-reach areas where there is no alternative transport.

Aigul Abdullina



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