Those who didn’t have time didn’t take off

As Kommersant found out, 300 billion rubles are reserved in the National Welfare Fund (NWF). transactions for the re-registration of aircraft from foreign lessors are almost exhausted. The last funds were spent on the settlement of 28 Aeroflot aircraft, 45 S7 aircraft and 19 Ural Airlines aircraft. Most of the total budget – at least 250 billion rubles – went to 86 Aeroflot aircraft, which the group received under operating lease. Private carriers converted the vessels into financial leasing for 15 years, but they managed to remove the government requirement for an annual transfer of net profit for their accelerated redemption. iFly, which agreed on deals for three aircraft, has not yet been able to receive the money.

As Kommersant learned, 3.5 billion of the 300 billion rubles previously allocated for the purchase of aircraft of foreign owners remained in the budget of the National Welfare Fund. In total, 150 aircraft have been purchased to date, of which 86 belong to the Aeroflot group. Funds were allocated for insurance settlement of relations with foreign lessors whose aircraft remained in the Russian Federation after the introduction of Western sanctions in February 2022. Funds from the National Welfare Fund were allocated as a preferential loan at a rate of 1.5% for 15 years. The leasing company NLK-Finance, controlled by the Federal Air Transport Agency, became the new owner of the vessels; the funds were transferred by its parent NSK.

The first 35 billion rubles. Aeroflot received from the National Welfare Fund for ten aircraft at the beginning of 2023. After this, the group carried out another series of transactions: in September – for 18 aircraft and five engines of the leasing company AerCap (Ireland) worth 63 billion rubles, in October – for 17 aircraft from SMBC Aviation Capital (Ireland) for $710 million, or about 69.5 billion rubles, then another four – with CDB Aviation and nine – with BOC Aviation. On December 22, the group announced the transfer of rights to another 28 aircraft. The amounts of the last three transactions were not disclosed, but, according to calculations by Kommersant and sources in the industry, about 250–270 billion rubles were spent on the group’s 86 aircraft from the National Welfare Fund. Another 15 billion rubles. Pobeda, part of the group, was supposed to transfer from its net profit for 2022. In addition to funds from the National Welfare Fund, Aeroflot, back in May 2022, used its own funds to purchase eight Airbus A330s from foreign financial leases, which was permitted by sanctions.

Ural Airlines announced on December 22 that it had settled the issue of 19 Airbuses with AerCap. On the same day, S7 announced a settlement for 45 aircraft. According to Kommersant, the company agreed on the transfer of rights with five lessors, the amount of transactions taking into account its own funds (34 billion rubles from net profit for 2022) amounted to 45–50 billion rubles. AerCap reported that it received $572 million for 19 Airbuses of Ural Airlines and 29 of S7 (about 52.5 billion rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate). Kommersant’s interlocutors estimated the cost of Ural Airlines aircraft at approximately 30 billion rubles, of which 13.5 billion rubles. the airline also paid extra from its net profit according to the conditions set by the Ministry of Transport (see “Kommersant” dated August 31).

Thus, private companies received about 30–40 billion rubles from the National Welfare Fund.

Both carriers, according to Kommersant, received the aircraft on a financial lease for 15 years, after which the ships will become their property. As industry sources clarified, airlines managed to get rid of the requirement to annually transfer a share of net profit for accelerated repurchase (see “Kommersant” dated October 25).

Another private airline that managed to agree on the terms of deals for three Airbuses worth 9 billion rubles was the charter company iFly. In her case, we are talking about the direct purchase of aircraft from ALC (USA). Whether the carrier will now receive money from the National Welfare Fund for at least one of the aircraft is unknown. iFly could not be contacted.

Several Kommersant sources believe that all remaining funds from the National Welfare Fund will be used to settle the Aeroflot aircraft, even if the limit of 300 billion rubles is then reached. will be promoted. Aeroflot and S7 have already announced that they are continuing negotiations with foreign ship owners. If S7 and Ural Airlines are able to agree on settlements for the new aircraft, their chances of receiving funds are considered high in the industry: “Aeroflot will not take everyone out.” But the interests of charter companies with a small or old fleet are unlikely to be taken into account. However, so far the issue of additional allocation of funds from the National Welfare Fund, according to all Kommersant’s interlocutors, is not being discussed. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy did not answer Kommersant. The Ministry of Transport, the Federal Air Transport Agency and airlines do not comment on the situation.

At the end of the year, airlines are unlikely to repeat last year’s profits, notes Fedor Borisov, an expert at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the Higher School of Economics.

At the same time, carriers are certainly interested in a settlement for the remaining aircraft. Taking into account the depletion of cheap money from the National Welfare Fund, it makes sense for airlines to discuss preferential lending with partial compensation of the interest rate. Fedor Borisov emphasizes: if carriers are left without state support in this matter, given the high Central Bank rate, these costs will inevitably be transferred to the price of transportation.

Aigul Abdullina