Kremlin pledges £181m in roubles to support sanctioned airlines
The Kremlin pledged today it will invest 19.5bn roubles (£181m) to help airlines refund passengers flying on routes that were cancelled following the sanctions against Moscow.
“The subsidies will be used to refund passengers the cost of tickets on routes that have been cancelled due to external restrictions, which will save carriers their own working capital, which means there will be financial resources to ensure flight safety,” said Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
This is the second time the Russian Government has bailed out the aviation industry since the Ukrainian war’s outbreak. President Putin announced on 2 April the government would provide £919.3m for the domestic aviation sector.
President Putin said in a televised address that domestic flights should become cheaper for Russian and that the share of Russian-made aircraft should increase, Morning Wire reported.
According to analytics company Acuity Knowledge Partners, the airspace ban imposed by several countries such as the US, UK and EU battered Russia’s airlines.
Aeroflot Group, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines and UTair Group in fact held around 70 per cent of the country’s air market share and generated substantial revenue from Western routes.
In addition, ticket-booking giant Sabre cut ties with Moscow, preventing carriers from selling tickets even for domestic flights.