MOSCOW, March 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russian banker Alexander Lebedev plans to offer the government 51 percent of his budget airline Red Wings for a symbolic 1 ruble ($.033), Izvestia daily reported on Monday, citing the businessman.
Red Wings had its operating license revoked in February after suffering a fatal accident on December 29 when one of its eight Tupolev Tu-204 airliners skidded off the runway at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, killing five of the eight crew on board. The Russian aviation authorities grounded the airline in February due to what it said were deficiencies in the company's pilot training and servicing revealed in an inspection.
Lebedev told the paper he had sold 49 percent of the airline to an unnamed Cyprus-based company for an undisclosed sum and plans to offer national development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) and Russia's United Aircraft Corporation aerospace holding the remaining 51 percent. He did not explain why he had made the sale.
Lebedev said he had invested about 3 billion rubles ($100 million) in Vnukovo airport-based Red Wings in the past six years, adding the company had been set up to support domestic aircraft manufacturers. The Tu-204 is made by Russia's Aviastar SP and KAPO, which are parts of United Aircraft Corporation.
The billionaire former KGB officer, whose business empire includes banks, UK media and a stake in Russia's largest airline Aeroflot, said last year he was ready to sell out of Russia and retire, because of what he claimed was “relentless pressure from the authorities.”
Lebedev is reported by Russian media to have a tense relationship with many of his former KGB colleagues, including Russian President Vladimir Putin; one of his media assets is the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, known for its criticism of Kremlin policy.
