Subsidies for air carriers will be kept at 2015 year-level - Russian Ministry of Transport

Subsidies for air carriers will not be lowered in 2016 and will remain at the last-year level, Russian Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov said on Tuesday. "This is the program for support of tourists and passengers from the Far East. We plan 4.3 bln rubles ($58.6 mln) this year without the decline against the prior year. We keep the support amounts corresponding to the last year despite pressure on the budget and believe this is a priority area," the minister said. Furthermore, the ministry made a decision to allocate subsidies provided for the bankrupt Transaero airline and remained unutilized for development of other tourism destinations. About 100 mln rubles ($1.4 mln) out of 1 bln rubles ($13.6 mln) will be spent for the bus traffic over the ‘Golden Ring of Russia’ [a ring of cities northeast of Moscow - TASS], the minister said. "We promptly examined an opportunity of allocating about one bln rubles ($13.6 mln) more on the account of unutilized subsidies planned for Transaero in 2015. We may spend them for various programs and kinds of transport. This is the bus traffic support within the framework of the so-called ‘Golden Ring’ in the Central Federal District. We estimate this figure as 100 mln rubles ($1.4 mln) approximately and it is possible to allocate such funds for this purpose," Sokolov said.