Russian aviation may be left without new airplanes

The budget of the National Welfare Fund (NWF) has 3.5 billion rubles ($38.1 million) left out of the 300 billion rubles ($3.2 billion) allocated earlier for the purchase of foreign-owned aircraft.

To date, about 150 aircraft have been purchased, of which 86 belong to Aeroflot Group, the rest to Ural Airlines, S7 Airlines and the charter company iFly, Kommersant reports.

The newspaper specifies that the funds were needed for insurance settlement of relations with foreign lessors, whose airplanes have remained in Russia since February last year due to the sanctions imposed on the country.

The money from the National Wealth Fund was allocated as a soft loan at a rate of 1.5 per cent for 15 years. The new owner of the planes was the Rosaviatsia-controlled leasing company NLC-Finance, while the funds were transferred by its parent NSC, the article said.

Kommersant's interlocutors suggested that all the remaining funds of the NWF would be used to settle the Aeroflot planes even if the 300 billion ruble limit is then raised. However, the issue of an additional allocation of the NWF funds is not being discussed at the moment.