The Ministry of Transport, together with JSC TCH (the former Transport Clearing House) and the state corporation Rostec, are discussing the creation of a reserve fund for supporting air passengers in Russia, Izvestia writes, citing sources. Information about this is also in the letter of the vice-president of “TKP” Alexei Shubenkov to the Ministry of Transport dated April 7. The idea is also mentioned in the materials of the Ministry of Transport. According to the documents, the former deputy head of the department, Kirill Bogdanov (left his post on April 16), proposed creating a working group on this and related issues, inviting Dmitry Shamraev, head of IATA in Russia and the CIS, Mikhail Baskakov, president of TCH, and general director of the National Payment Card System, to participate in it. (NSPK) Vladimir Komlev.
The funds of the fund are planned to be spent on fulfilling the obligations of carriers to passengers in case of force majeure, follows from Shubenkov’s letter. For example, if the airline goes bankrupt, its customers can be put on other flights or refunded to them for the failed flight.
The document also notes that the fund is planned to be created not at the expense of budgetary funds. “It seems necessary to establish a fee charged from passengers when issuing tickets,” the letter says. It states that this will not lead to an increase in the cost of air tickets, since the new payment “will be formed through the redistribution of fees established by the current legislation of the Russian Federation.”
Today, the price of a ticket includes, for example, airport, fuel, and service charges. Fees are also charged for the maintenance and safety of passengers, for the maintenance of aircraft in air hubs, for the provision of navigation services for dispatchers, etc.
According to two Izvestiya sources in the aviation industry, the amount of the fee has not yet been determined, but a value in the range of 70 to 250 rubles per flight is being discussed. In this case, part of the payment may not go to the budget of the future fund, but will be transferred to the system operator for the provision of the service.
It is assumed that the recently created Aviagarant JSC will become this operator.
But experts warned that the mechanism for introducing a new payment is still unclear, and if other fees are not reduced or eliminated, ticket prices could rise.