Aeroflot CEO assesses losses from coronavirus as significant

MOSCOW, Mar 5 (PRIME) – The losses of Russian national flagship carrier Aeroflot from the global outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus are significant, CEO Vitaly Savelyev told reporters on Thursday.

“In the framework of data that we have, we are assessing them and we are trying to forecast them. The losses are significant,” he said.

Nevertheless, the company has no plans to cancel flights to any destinations in order not to lose any slots, he said.

“We cannot reject a route on our own without any consequences, we will lose slots in this case, and the slots are one of the key assets of an airline. The slots are very expensive and precious assets, in many cases we are historical owners of the slots. If we lose them, they will be resold instantly,” he said.

But Aeroflot would reduce the number of flights to Italy if passenger loading starts to fall. “We assume that there is no ban on flights, that there only was a recommendation for passengers to limit their travels. We are monitoring the factual loading as well. If it starts to fall, we will reduce the number of flights,” he said.

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