May 21, 2017, 11:54 pm / Business

Aeroflot filed a lawsuit against aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi SuperJet

The supplier wanted to sell the vessels so much that he vouched for the state for subsidies. Alexander Vorobyov GSS will have to answer in rubles for the state’s obligations / Ekaterina Kuzmina / Vedomosti

The Moscow Arbitration Court will begin considering Aeroflot's claim against Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC) on June 6, according to the court's website. The carrier recovers RUB 576 million under the contract dated June 2, 2011. from the manufacturer of the first Russian civil aircraft SSJ100. The reasons for filing the lawsuit are not indicated in the court materials.

SSJ100 is already more than a hundred

122 SSJ100 aircraft were produced by the beginning of April 2017, according to the Air Transport Review magazine: 65 of them were from Russian operators, including five from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and SLO Rossiya, 30 from foreign operators, including 22 - at the Mexican InterJet, 19 - in storage or are being prepared for transfer to operators, 7 - at the GSS itself for testing, one crashed in Indonesia in 2012. Commercial deliveries of the SSJ100 began in April 2011, the first operator was the Armenian Armavia. Aeroflot is the second operator

The lawsuit is related to the lease delivery of the first 10 SSJ100s to Aeroflot, two people familiar with the contents of the document told Vedomosti. In 2011, a tripartite agreement was concluded between GSS, Aeroflot and VEB Leasing. According to the agreement, Aeroflot was supposed to receive subsidies from the federal budget to pay lease payments for these ships; if subsidies are not received, the manufacturer must compensate them. The carrier did not receive any subsidies, Vedomosti’s interlocutors said. SCAC agreed to include such a clause in the contract because it really wanted to supply Aeroflot with aircraft, explains one of Vedomosti’s interlocutors.

According to the government decree of June 26, 2002 “On the procedure for reimbursing Russian airlines...” of part of the costs of paying lease payments and interest on loans for Russian-made aircraft (referred to in the Aeroflot lawsuit), the amount of the subsidy for the airline (taking leasing Russian-made aircraft) accounted for 75% of the overpayment on loans that the leasing company took out from banks to purchase aircraft, as well as 75% of the income of the leasing company itself.

Earlier on the topic: The contract amount for 20 SSJ100 for Aeroflot will be about $600 million – UAC

Representatives of the State Aircraft, Aeroflot and the Ministry of Transport declined to comment. A representative of VEB Leasing did not respond to Vedomosti’s request on Sunday.

“It’s a strange provision of the contract; I’ve never come across anything like this before,” ACRA senior analyst Alexander Gushchin was surprised. – In essence, the GSS manufacturer has guaranteed the state’s obligations arising from the government decree. If Aeroflot wins the claim, it is logical for the state to reimburse the State Aircraft for these costs.”

JSC Sukhoi Civil Aircraft

Aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi SuperJet 100
Shareholder: PJSC Sukhoi Company (100%; part of the state holding United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).
Financial indicators (IFRS, 2016):
Revenue – $727 million,
Net loss – $475 million.

The contract with Aeroflot stipulates terrible sanctions for literally everything, including ship breakdowns, says a person close to the UAC. The main contract between GSS and Aeroflot for the supply of 30 aircraft was concluded back in 2005, the second batch of 20 SSJ100 was supplied by Sberbank Leasing, deliveries were completed in 2016. Sanctions for the manufacturer in this contract are very serious and do not correspond to any worldwide practitioners, confirms another person close to the KLA. This contract provides for penalties for downtime of Aeroflot aircraft caused by malfunctions; at the end of 2015, the SCAC estimated the obligations under these sanctions at 698 million rubles, according to its annual report.

“The contract with us does not provide for sanctions for the State Aircraft, and, as far as I know, the rest of the small operators do not either,” says a top manager of the Russian airline.

Earlier on the topic: VEB-Leasing is ready to enter into a settlement agreement with the manufacturer SuperJet

Aeroflot is already the largest operator of the SSJ100, and at the MAKS air show in July it plans to conclude a contract with GSS for the supply of 20 more aircraft. The terms of the contract are being negotiated, including guarantees from the State Air Force, which in the previous contract were very different not in favor of the aircraft manufacturer, UAC Vice President Vladislav Masalov said in February (quoted by TASS). Negotiations on the contract are underway, say two people close to the GSS. Perhaps this lawsuit is just a way to put pressure on the GSS, one of them adds.

Previously, Aeroflot filed a claim against the State Aircraft Service only once - in October 2012 for 73.6 million rubles. But the subject of the claim remained unknown, since three days later the airline withdrew it.