Russia’s Skol Aviakompania faces bankruptcy lawsuits

Skol Aviakompania (CDV, Krasnoyarsk Cheremshanka) continues to owe billions of rubles to GTLK – State Transport Leasing through a number of leasing debts and intends to go to court to declare the carrier bankrupt, the news agency Interfax reported citing court filings. Surgutneftegazbank, a privately-owned full-service bank, has launched a similar suit over a separate alleged debt. GTLK published a statement on April 22 recounting that the airline’s debts to it exceeded RUB3 billion rubles (USD40 million). The state-owned lessor said that, in general, because it “adheres to a flexible approach to its customers and meets halfway companies with a good track record that have suffered from the pandemic,” by the end of 2020 it had “eased the debt burden on transport organisations by more than RUB20 billion [USD268 million] by restructuring existing contracts, reducing leasing rates, and deferring payments.” Under contracts with Skol, however – in which it had transferred Russian-made helicopters and five Let 410 UVP-E20 fixed-wing aircraft in 2017-2019 – despite negotiations, airline and lessor have been unable to agree on terms to resolve the payment of overdue debts. To date, three court decisions have been issued ordering Skol to repay a total of RUB2.4 billion (USD32 million). According to one of these, for RUB477.1 million rubles (USD6.4 million), an enforcement procedure was initiated in December 2020, “but these measures are not yet sufficient to pay off the defendant’s obligations,” the lessor said. “GTLK will continue to press Skol Aviakompania to repay the debt by all legal means,” it added. Following GTLK’s announcement, Surgutneftegazbank – based in Surgut, where Skol was originally established in 2000 before being re-registered in a special economic zone in Kaliningrad in 2019 while still basing its fleet at Krasnoyarsk Cheremshanka – said also it intended to go to court to declare Skol bankrupt. It did not mention the size of its claims. On April 22, a provincial lessor, Kyshtym-based Perspektiva LLC, and engineering firm DmitrovMontazhGroup also announced intentions to go to court to declare Skol Aviakompania bankrupt, according to Interfax. According to Russia’s civil aviation regulator (Rosaviatsia), Skol Aviakompania operates three Cessna (single turboprop) 208B and the five Let 410 UVP-E20 fixed-wing aircraft, plus a rotary-wing fleet of two Eurocopter AS350 B3s, six Ansats, two Mi-171s, seven Mi-26Ts, twenty-two Mi-8AMTs, three Mi-8MTVs, and two Mi-8T Mil Helicopters. As of 2019, GTLK leased three Let Kunovice aircraft, eleven of the Mi-8s, and four of the Ansats to Skol. In 2020, Skol sustained a RUB548.2 million (USD7.3 million) net loss, doubling its loss in 2019. Skol Aviakompania was not immediately available for comment.