State support was cut to Russian airlines. They cancel flights

Russian airlines began to cancel flights around the country due to cuts in government support. In 2023, subsidies for regional flights bypassing Moscow were cut from 9 billion to 7.5 billion rubles, Izvestia writes. The reason is the budget deficit.

The largest number of routes not included in the program are located in Omsk and Tyumen regions, Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Dagestan and North Ossetia.

Carriers have already started canceling scheduled flights. So the flight programs on the routes Kemerovo – Chita and Nizhny Novgorod – Petrozavodsk have been cancelled. Rossiya Airlines canceled two weekly flights from St. Petersburg to Tobolsk.

In 2023, the program was curtailed due to the sequestration of state budget expenditures. The Ministry of Transport as a whole was instructed to reduce expenses by 5%.

The authorities of the regions are now in a difficult position – on the one hand, they are promised federal support and require the development of local airport and airport infrastructure for future flights, and on the other hand, they are cutting funding.

• In mid-April, the Russian Ministry of Transport warned about a possible increase in the cost of domestic flights by 15-30% due to a decrease in subsidizing transportation in the summer season of 2023.
• The summer season in aviation runs from the end of March to the end of October. Last year, airlines received 100 billion rubles from the state to cover the costs of domestic transportation during this period. The money was allocated against the background of sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• In early April 2023, the Association of Air Transport Operators appealed to the Ministry of Transport with a proposal to extend subsidies to air carriers for the next summer season. The carriers asked for 100 billion rubles.