Translated material
RBC: Far Eastern airline Aurora is faced with a shortage of aircraft
The unified Far Eastern airline Aurora, created in 2021 by merging several regional air carriers, has faced a shortage of aircraft amid sanctions against Russia, RBC writes, citing three sources.
It is not clear from the article what the extent of the deficit is. RBC mentions three Bombardier aircraft, which are in non-flying condition at the Yakutsk airport.
According to sources, the problems are related to the cessation of supplies of spare parts and components for foreign aircraft, as well as the refusal of maintenance. First of all, the difficulties relate to Canadian Bombardier aircraft, the article says.
According to RBC, Aurora should receive Russian aircraft as a priority. In particular, back in 2021, the airline was supposed to receive a Superjet, but now, as follows from the publication, this will happen no earlier than 2023.
Aurora is struggling with the shortage of aircraft, in particular, by negotiating with other airlines on joint flights (instead of competing on the same destinations). This measure will affect at least seven routes in 2022, six of which were previously planned to use Bombardier aircraft.
In 2021, 1.23 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget for preferential passenger air transportation on 20 routes within the Far Eastern Federal District. These flights last year were used by 62.1 thousand people, said the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko. According to a representative of the Ministry of Transport, the volume of subsidies for Aurora in 2022 increased five times and amounted to 5.9 billion rubles. This year the airline flies on 36 routes.