MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. The situation with the closure of international flights from Russia can lead to a bankruptcy of certain air carriers, First Deputy Minister of Transport and head of the Russian aviation regulator Rosaviatsiya Alexander Neradko said on Tuesday.
"The decline in revenues of airlines due to international routes closing with concurrent growth of costs in case of the ruble rate drop can lead to huge losses and challenges in operations of civil aviation entities. Bankruptcy risks actually arise, in the first instance for air carriers, and for other organizations," the official said.
The air traffic between Russia and a range of countries is now limited. Flights were restricted over the last month and a half to countries of the European Union, China, South Korea, Iran, Uzbekistan, etc., against the coronavirus spread.
Neradko also said that the new coronavirus infection may affect flight safety because it is not possible to use overseas training centers after shutdown of the international air service.
"The coronavirus infection can directly affect the flight safety also in view of impossibility of using services of overseas training centers. It is necessary to prepare promptly for solution of this task; delivery of spares will be affected as well. The freight traffic will decline just as the passenger one," Neradko said.