VTB and Sberbank are planning to discuss a plan to create a regional airline with the government in the near future. This was announced by VTB CEO Andrey Kostin on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“We need to get together with [German] Gref after Davos, to understand the further plan of action. If we accept the consultants' recommendations in principle, then we need to create a working group and then agree together with [Deputy Prime Minister Maxim] Akimov and [Transport Minister Yevgeny] Dietrich that we will come and start working on this together," he said.
Andrei Kostin also added that foreign consultants had already submitted a report on the project back in December 2018, but he does not know whether German Oskarovich had read it.
In addition, Andrei Kostin notes that the creation of a new regional airline will undoubtedly require government assistance.
"I don't remember where, but I heard a proposal from German Oskarovich that it would be good for the country to have regional service, because it is difficult to fly from Omsk to Novosibirsk. An idea came up that banks could participate, finance a certain leasing of aircraft, provided that the state would provide the necessary return of funds. None of us, as far as I know, have ever discussed any specific company to be the operator," the head of VTB said, TASS reports.
"The state has not ordered us, has not shown us, and, moreover, the state complains that there is noise, and we have not even informed them once. There is simply no concept yet, one principle should be in the concept. We can give money, we can buy planes, we can lease them, but the state is obliged to support. All over the world, even in America, regional aviation is subsidized by the state. Although, according to the scheme that was written by our consultants, this does not mean a serious increase in subsidies compared to what there is now. Well, there will probably be some increase," he added.
Source: trn-news.ru