PRESS: Sberbank, VTB can establish interregional airline

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has ordered two largest banks, Sberbank and VTB, to establish an airline for interregional flights, business daily Vedomosti reported on Thursday, citing sources in the industry.

The share of flights without stopovers in Moscow amounted to only 23% in 2017, and President Vladimir Putin ordered to take it to 50% by 2024.

According to the sources, Bain & Company was chosen as the consultant of VTB and Sberbank, each of the banks paid 55.47 million rubles for the service. The project documents must be ready by December 31.

The passenger traffic of the airline is planned at 6–10 million people a year. Only two Russian airline holdings carry more: Aeroflot with 50 million people and S7 Group with 14.3 in 2017.

(65.4026 rubles – U.S. $1)

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