The shareholders of S7 Airlines (Russia) are considering the possibility of acquiring a stake in a Bulgarian airline with the aim of circumventing the ban on operation of Russian transit flights over Ukraine. The Russian airline’s co-owner Natalia Fileva announced this to reporters, avianews.com reports.
The plan is to use a European airline to operate flights from Moscow to cities in Europe. "I need to cross Ukraine, we do not know when they (the governments of Ukraine and Russia) will reach agreement [on the resumption of flights]," she added.
Fileva recently said that the shareholders of S7 Airlines were holding talks on purchase of shares in a Cypriot airline. "We are looking at any European carrier because it is currently impossible to fly through Ukraine," she said at the time.
Russia closed its skies to Ukrainian transit flights in August 2014. Ukraine responded in November 2015 by closing its skies to Russian transit flights from 26 November.
