Russian airlines may close hundreds of domestic flights due to lack of government support

Since the Ministry of Transport of Russia, the Ministry of Aviation and the Ministry of Finance could not agree on the allocation of state aid to low-income destinations, a number of airlines may cancel domestic flights to the Far East, Kaliningrad and the central parts of the country from the beginning of next year.

Russian airlines may close hundreds of domestic flights from January 1, 2025 due to the lack of state subsidies, industry sources told Kommersant.

According to them, the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation) cannot agree with the Ministry of Finance on the terms of allocating 19 billion rubles to air carriers for flights bypassing Moscow, as well as flights to the central part of the Russian Federation, the Far East and Kaliningrad. Approval of subsidies for socially important routes in the Far East has also been delayed.

According to the current regulations, applications for subsidies must be submitted no later than October 1, and their review will take at least a month. Usually, Rosaviatsia distributes funds by December 1. Until that date, the carriers had scheduled flights starting from January 1, and launched ticket sales for subsidized flights.

However, due to the current situation in a number of regions, tickets to some destinations have not been put on sale since the new year, Kommersant interlocutors say. According to one of them, the regional authorities are concerned about this because they have received requests from passengers. The Ministry of Defense has also intervened in the issue of controlling the availability of tickets to places of rest and treatment of military personnel.

Without subsidies, airlines will cancel flights or be forced to sell tickets at commercial prices, sources said. However, closing down less profitable routes is considered more likely.