UTair (UT, Khanty-Mansiysk) could soon see a respite from its current financial woes after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich alluded to a possible state bail-out of the struggling carrier.
Though the Kremlin has toyed with the idea since the middle of the year, the need to shore up the country's third largest carrier by passenger volume has taken on an added degree of urgency following a series of lawsuits filed this week over unpaid debts.
Earlier this week Avialeasing applied to have UTair declared bankrupt over RUB3.5million (USD67,000) in unpaid Tu-154M lease payments followed by Alfa Bank which, in addition to a previous claim for USD11.5million, has now lodged an additional four suits for outstanding monies owed.
Other claimants that have now filed suits include the UGRA SPb leasing firm which is owed RUB687million (USD13million), the operators of Ekaterinburg and Perm Bolshoye Savino airports which are owed RUB9.5million (USD180,900), Khanty-Mansiysk airport (RUB30million), Nyagan airport (RUB9million), Novosibirsk (RUB6.3million), Samara Kurumoch (RUB10million), and Gazpromavia (4G, Moscow Ostafyevo) (RUB130million).
UTair General Director Andrey Martirosov has, however, dismissed the suits as standard practice in claiming outstanding debts.
"Filing a lawsuit to declare a company bankrupt is a standard approach used by lenders, often by those seeking the return of relatively small amounts of debt. UTair uses the same legal procedure against its own small debtors," he said.
While UTair Aviation's total debt is estimated to stand at about USD1.1 billion, its Impulse restructuring program has begun to pay off with it posting a lean USD100'000 profit for the first half of this year.
