OREANDA-NEWS  Since March 2022, Russia has allocated 1.09 trillion rubles (about $12.07 billion) in subsidies and loans to keep the aviation sector under sanctions. Such calculations were provided by Reuters, which examined data from the Ministry of Finance and the Accounting Chamber.

Support for civil aviation, including the allocation of funds for the construction of new aircraft and financial assistance to airlines, was necessary because the largest manufacturers Airbus and Boeing stopped supplying spare parts to the country and stopped aircraft maintenance after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. The authorities will continue to provide monetary support to the industry in the coming years, the Ministry of Industry and Trade told the agency.

The costs are almost double the 547 billion rubles that the government allocated to support the aviation sector in 2020-2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sharp reduction in air travel. According to the Swiss aviation information provider ch-Aviation, Russian airlines currently use 991 aircraft, of which 405 are Russian—made, and 133 aircraft are "Superjets" of the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation.