Transaero Airlines (Moscow Vnukovo) creditors have begun filing lawsuits against the carrier which has been struggling to pay outstanding debts since shareholders spurned a takeover offer from Aeroflot Group late last month.

Russia's Interfax news agency reports that so far, St. Petersburg airport operator Northern Capital Gateway Consortium (NCG) has filed a claim against the carrier for RUB182.45 million (USD2.95 million) while airport refueling firm RN-Aero is claiming more than RUB3.4 billion (USD55.03 million) for unpaid fuel bills.

Transaero's total debt is estimated to stand at RUB250 billion (USD3.8 billion) of which RUB150 billion (USD2.42 billion) is owed to leasing firms while RUB20 billion (USD323.76 million) is owed to airports and fuel companies.

The airline's fleet consists mainly of Boeing jets sourced from VTB, VEB and Sberbank. VTB Bank is owed a total of RUB52 billion (USD841.77 million) in the form of leasing arrears and credit lines and has considered selling off the twenty-one aircraft Transaero operates under financial lease arrangements with it.

However, last week, the chairman of VEB Bank Vladimir Dmitriev told the Russia 24 TV channel that bankruptcy for Transaero, while now a likely course of action, was only one of the options being considered.

“We are considering the possibility of a soft landing in this difficult situation in the form of a controlled bankruptcy. But now I would like to admit that bankruptcy is only one of the possible scenarios. We are also considering other options,” he said. “We are negotiating with our partners and friends from VTB on a daily basis in order to consider the scenario of establishing a new carrier on the basis of the existing fleet; this carrier should be able to fulfil a part of Transaero’s obligations in case of providing it with the state support."

According to Russian Aviation News, the new carrier would retain all of Transaero's traffic rights in addition to its exemptions which include the duty-free import of aircraft and simplified access to domestic and international flights.

Though earlier reports had indicated Transaero would cease international flights on October 5 and domestic flights on October 15, the airline is to keep operating its own aircraft, albeit on a drastically reduced network, until December 15.