Russia’s iFly undergoes shareholder change, eyes US charters

JSC Yunoks Company, one of several shareholders in Moscow Vnukovo operator Vnukovo International Airport JSC, has taken a minority stake in iFly Airlines (F7, Moscow Vnukovo).

Prior to this development, the Russian charter carrier was 91% controlled by one of the founders of tour operator TEZ Tour, Alexander Burtin, while the remaining 9% was owned by Silk Way, a company registered in Russia but wholly owned by citizens of Hong Kong – Joy Tour Global Limited (99% of shares) and Kam Chiu (1%). Joy Tour Global Limited is, in turn, indirectly controlled by Hong Kong’s Big Travel Agency and Shenzhen Xiyou International Travel Agency.

However, updated company records seen by SPARK-Interfax show that JSC Yunoks, which is linked to Vitaly Vantsev and Vladimir Skoch, has now secured a 30% stake from Burtin while General Director Kirill Romanovsky has received a 5% stake. Burtin’s shareholding in iFly now stands at 56%.

iFly Airlines operates six A330-200s (two of them stored) and three A330-300s, all of them leased and registered in Ireland, on cargo-only charters, mainly to China, Hong Kong Int’l, and Europe (chiefly destinations in Germany). Last month, it applied to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for a Foreign Air Carrier Permit (FACP) and an exemption to operate ad-hoc charter flights between Russia and the United States.