Russia’s government is extending a loan subsidy programme to ease the process through which lessors acquire domestically-built aircraft to lease to carriers.
The programme – which was initiated a decade ago, in October 2012 – had applied to loans taken by lessors from 2008-21 but it will be extended, under an amended government decree, to cover loans issued in 2022.
Some Rb10 billion ($165 million) will be allocated from the federal budget for the purpose.
Prime minister Mikhail Mishustin said the scheme will not only reduce the costs to lessors but partially compensate for a “growing financial burden on airlines”, during a government meeting on 2 September.
“Therefore, additional costs will not be passed on to passengers,” he adds.
The programme is subsidizing the purchase of 59 Irkut Superjet aircraft including seven airframes to be constructed this year.
Under the scheme the government reimburses 90% of the interest cost on the loans. The government says the support has taken on “particular relevance” in the wake of sanctions imposed on the Russian air transport industry.
