Under heavy pressure from Western sanctions and airspace bans, Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot plans to raise up to 185.2 billion rubles ($3 billion) in an emergency share issue, it said on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, the airline also plans to order three hundred planes from United Aircraft Corporation, subsidiary of Rostec, Russia’s state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate.
Other sources said Aeroflot was considering the Irkut MC-21 medium-range aircraft, which can carry more than two hundred passengers and will enter service this year.
The carrier is also looking to add more Sukhoi Superjet 100s, Russia’s main domestically manufactured airliner, which normally seats one hundred passengers. Another model selected is the Tupolev Tu-214, but with a smaller order.
The situation of the state-owned company, as well as that of other Russian companies, is not the best after the sanctions by the European Union, the United States, Great Britain and Canada to acquire Western-made aircraft and how to supply parts and services for them.
The company has 221 aircraft and recently transferred its 148 SSJ 100 to its subsidiary Rossiya, leaving only Airbus and Boeing aircraft.
Despite the situation in Russia, the airline carried 2.2 million passengers in March 2022, which includes Pobeda, less than half of the 4.6 million passengers carried in the same period.
