Due to the suspension of flights, Ural Airlines is on the verge of bankruptcy, Nikolai Tsukanov, presidential envoy to the Urals Federal District, told Ura.ru. According to him, Sergey Skuratov, director of the airline, approached him, saying that neither Sberbank nor VTB give loans to Ural Airlines.
“I’m with [президентом Сбербанка Германом] Gref spoke with [председателем правления ВТБ Андреем] Kostin. [Они говорят]: we have a position, and we are not talking about the Ural airline, we are talking about the aviation industry as a whole, ”said Tsukanov. He suggested considering the issue of saving Ural Airlines in the government and, possibly, providing the company with government guarantees or funding.
A representative of Ural Airlines confirmed to Vedomosti that the company has certain problems with lending, but said that the situation is under control. “We believe we will resolve these issues in one way or another,” he said. The representative added that due to the coronavirus, the airline had to convert 12 aircraft for cargo transportation. She brought more than 100 tons of humanitarian aid from China to Russia, part of the cargo was transported on a charitable basis. In addition, Ural Airlines is involved in the return of Russians from abroad, and their technical center repairs and maintains aircraft of other airlines.
The Ministry of Transport did not see the prerequisites for the bankruptcy of Ural Airlines. There are no alarming trends regarding the financial and economic condition of the carrier, the agency said.
Ural Airlines applied for financing to Sberbank in April, Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of the board of Sberbank, told Vedomosti. “Our specialized services are analyzing the documents and the updated financial model of the airline, adjusted to the current situation in the industry,” he said.
The VTB press service told Ura.ru that the bank is ready to consider options for supporting the airline.
Ural Airlines wants to borrow about 3 billion rubles to replenish working capital, an employee of a Russian bank told Vedomosti.
Ural Airlines is one of the largest airlines in Russia, ranking fourth after Aeroflot, S7 and Pobeda. In January-March, the company transported 1.8 million people.
It was Ural Airlines, together with Aeroflot, that back in March suffered more than other regular airlines due to the epidemic – from the closure of international flights. Ural Airlines had to close about 40% of all its flights in March – this was the share of international flights in the airline’s route network.
