Tourist firms ask PM to interfere in situation with Russia’s Transaero

MOSCOW, Oct 9 (PRIME) -- Public entities and participants of Russia’s tourism market on Friday published an open letter to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov asking them to interfere in the situation with troubled airline Transaero.

The government’s September 1 ruling to carry all Transaero passengers may be violated, which may lead to an unprecedentedly high number of bankruptcies of tourism companies, the companies said in the letter.

“On October 8, Biblio Globus (the airline’s largest tourism partner) received an official notification from Transaero’s management that the carrier will no longer provide planes to carry tourists from October 24. The tour operator has no money to redeem funds to tourists and agent partners as it has already transferred 2 billion rubles to the airline,” the letter read.

“The tour operator’s insurer – VSK – is also unable to redeem funds, as all operator’s liabilities to 150,000 tourists are estimated at about 5.45 billion rubles.”

Transaero failed to service its debts, which amounted to about 250 billion rubles including leasing liabilities. In September, the Russian government approved a bailout plan which included a transfer of 75% in Transaero to national flag carrier Aeroflot, but the plan fell through as the troubled airline’s shareholders were unable to consolidate the stake on time.

The troubled airline stopped sales of tickets for new planes. Its passengers are being carried by other airlines, including Aeroflot, UTair, VIM Airlines and Ural Airlines.

(62.2942 rubles – U.S. $1)

End