The airline "VIM-Avia" has stopped all charter flights. Passengers who have already bought tickets for charter flights and now do not know what to do with vacation plans or how to return to Russia if they have already left have found themselves in a difficult position.

I have already asked to help tour operators and prevent a crisis in the tourism market.

“According to preliminary estimates, the airline has committed itself to carry about 200,000 passengers by the end of the summer season, including about 100,000 Russian tourists who have planned holidays in Russia and abroad,” ATOR said in a statement. published on the organization's website. Russian tour operators will not be able to return such a number of tourists to Russia on their own, the appeal notes. The fact is that tour operators have already paid for all charter programs before the end of the season and cannot once again pay for other flights for their clients - this will require about $10 million.

While tour operators and aviation regulators decide what to do with a company that is unable to fulfill its obligations, tourists are interested in what to do with ruined vacations and ruined plans.

In VIM-Avia itself, they can only shrug.

“I apologize - I personally, as a top manager - from passengers who bought tickets for charters and planned their vacations,” the co-owner of the airline said on the air of Rossiya-24 the day before.

It must be said that alarming signs that not everything is going smoothly in the airline appeared back in June - even then mass flight delays entered into practice in the airline, after which the charter program was reduced for two weeks - precisely in order to stabilize the schedule. From June 1 to June 15, tour operators were forced to look for alternative ways to transport passengers who had already flown to Sochi, Burgas and Antalya from different cities of Russia or were just about to do so.

Then, in June, tourists who purchased tickets for flights scheduled for the period from June 1 to June 15 and canceled as a result were advised to keep in touch with their travel agent and tour operators and were assured that despite the fact that for the figures of the tourism industry this situation turned out to be as unexpected as the passengers themselves,

tour operators will find an opportunity to transfer them to other flights or purchase a ticket on their own, subsequently applying for a refund to the representatives of VIM-Avia. It was assumed that they could reschedule the dates of the tour.

Those who bought airline tickets at ticket offices or online companies were invited to apply for a solution to the issue at the place of purchase. Yes, according to "Vestnik ATOR", “On May 31, the tour operator NTK Intourist had to look for containers to transport 280 tourists from St. Petersburg to Antalya.

The company explained that there are no free planes of a similar capacity on the market now, so the tourists were divided into three groups and flew to Antalya with three Saratov Airlines flights on May 31 and June 1. Intourist told the Association of Tour Operators that the company plans to compensate tourists for the lost days of rest. “Those tourists who will check into the hotel the next day after the scheduled start date of the tour will be refunded the cost of living for the lost day,” explained ATOR Vestnik.

However, now tour operators are faced with a much more serious problem - and will no longer be able to repair the damage or find alternative flight options for 100,000 passengers.

So what are the passengers to do? The correct answer is still the same - just wait. “There are no recipes for resolving the issue for the passengers themselves,” commented the current situation to Gazeta.Ru, director of the Cleon-tour travel agency. - Now they will deal with the situation and, and tourists can only buy a ticket at their own expense and further demand reimbursement from the airline. But given that VIM-Avia is bankrupt, there is simply no one to ask for compensation.

The only thing that could be done - even before buying a tour - was to pay attention to the position of the airline. In particular, to reports of massive delays and cancellation of June flights. However, this does not always work in cases with other companies - if we recall the history of bankruptcy in 2015, then there were no reports of the carrier's problems anywhere.

“VIM-Avia tickets are still on the websites of some tour operators,” Dmitry Chernyakov continues. “Tourists have become hostages of this situation, all they are offered is to wait.”

The question of who will now take out Russians stuck in the resorts of Turkey and Bulgaria, where they were sent by a bankrupt carrier, will now be decided by state-owned companies. At the same time, the price of the tour, which the tourists paid, does not include insurance against default by the airline. When they return home, they will have to file a claim with their travel agent, who will forward them to the tour operator, who, in turn, will contact the company directly.

However, according to Dmitry Chernyakov, when tour operators and airlines began to leave the market in 2014, no one received any compensation for spoiled holidays. “Now this whole situation is a headache for other airlines,” he concluded. Operative comments from representatives of other tour operators "Gazeta.Ru" have not yet been received.

What awaits the passengers of VIM-Avia

On September 26, the Federal Air Transport Agency held an emergency meeting on the problem. According to the department, “a decision was agreed on the allocation of about 200 million rubles. from the next year's federal budget to compensate for the costs of airlines that will carry passengers on domestic scheduled routes.

At the meeting, seven airlines expressed their readiness to carry passengers on VIM-Avia tickets - these are Ural Airlines, iFly, Red Wings, NordStar, Icarus, North Wind and Yakutia.

On September 28, Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov said that the main task now is to export from abroad those VIM-Avia customers whose vacation has come to an end. The second in the list of priorities, he called the implementation of regular flights on domestic and international lines. Then, according to Sokolov, you can start operating charter flights, tickets for which are sold, but the departure date has not yet arrived. “The last item of this plan is possible only after the above tasks are completed,” he.

What awaits the leaders of the company

On September 25, the Investigative Committee opened a case against unnamed officials of VIM-Avia under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of Russia (fraud committed by an organized group or on an especially large scale), who were suspected of receiving 1 million rubles. through the sale of tickets, knowing in advance that there will not be enough money to fulfill transportation obligations.

Alexander Kochnev (Photo: Tatyana Belyakova / TASS)

On the evening of September 27, on behalf of the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, the case was redirected to the main department of the Investigative Committee for the investigation of particularly important cases. At the same time, it became known that the owners of VIM-Avia, Rashid Mursekaev and his wife Svetlana, left Russia. According to RBC's source, they are in Istanbul.

On September 28, information appeared that Mursekaev was charged in absentia under the same Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the maximum punishment for which is imprisonment for up to ten years. “In the event that Mursekaev does not appear for interrogation by the investigator, he will be put on the federal wanted list, and then on the international one,” a source in the TFR told RBC.

On the same day, the Investigative Committee about the detention of the general director of the airline, Alexander Kochnev, and its chief accountant, Ekaterina Panteleeva.

Even large Russian airlines are not insured against bankruptcies, it is not so much ordinary passengers who especially suffer from the consequences, but tourists who find themselves at a resort or abroad without a return ticket at the time of the crash, but do not panic - in any case, the tour operator is responsible.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (IKAO), every nine to ten days a plane crash occurs in the world. And this is without taking into account force majeure circumstances, such as, for example, terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001 or a Russian plane shot down by a Ukrainian training missile on October 4, 2001, a collision of a TU-154 of Bashkir Airlines and a mail Boeing. over Lake Constance in Germany July 2, 2002 When settling claims for such insured events, experts face numerous problems, including financial ones. Disasters often lead airlines to bankruptcy.

However, less tragic events can also lead to bankruptcy. Aircraft, their technical, air navigation, airport and other types of services, the training of aviation personnel are becoming more expensive, and the cost of ensuring flight safety is growing. The profitability of air travel is declining, and at the same time, competition in the aviation sector is growing.

In 2015 alone, four Russian airlines left the market - UTair-Express, Tomsk Avia, Polet and Ak Bars Aero. In 2014, Dobrolet left the market, as well as a number of other charter and regional air carriers.

As a reminder, today, October 26, JSC Transaero Airlines at 00:00 stopped its operations. The operation of the airline was stopped due to the decision of the Federal Aviation Administration of the Ministry of Transport of Russia to cancel the air operator certificate of Transaero Airlines OJSC from 10/26/2015. According to Aeroflot's press service, Transaero's passengers will be transported by the Aeroflot Group's airlines and, if necessary, by other airlines. For the uninterrupted transportation of passengers, out of 1.925 million tickets sold by Transaero until December 15, 2015, 1.825 million people have already been transported under the operational management of Aeroflot, which is 94.8% of the total number of tickets.

Until December 15, it remains to transport 100,241 passengers with booked tickets for Transaero flights. To ensure the transportation of passengers of Transaero Airlines, Aeroflot created an operational headquarters.

Passengers on direct flights to/from Moscow are provided transportation, first of all, from/to the originally booked airport of the Moscow Aviation Hub. If there are no Aeroflot Group flights at these airports operated under the SU code, or if there are no empty seats on the flights, transportation is performed from/to Sheremetyevo. Refunds are made at the place where tickets were purchased.

It should be noted that today the debts of the largest Russian airline Transaero are estimated at about 260 billion rubles, according to experts, the collapse of transportation occurred due to a decrease in demand and difficulties in the economy, in addition, the airline itself has inadequately increased its fleet and passenger traffic in recent years.

« Samara travel agencies also suffered from the situation related to Transaero, - Rimma Garshina, manager of the Magik-Tour store of last-minute tours, reports. - We have planes of this airline flying to the Crimea, to Sochi - it's good at least that the main summer flows of tourists returned home without problems. Therefore, for us, the risks are reduced to a minimum. In addition, Transaero operated flights from Moscow. Charters of this airline from Samara to Cyprus were planned for the winter, but now they will not be.

What should tourists do in such cases? If they purchased tickets on their own, they will have to sort things out with the bankrupt airline themselves. But if the tickets were included in the cost of the tour and they were received through the tour operator, then he will be responsible. Every year we have blows, then the operator, then the airline will go bankrupt! This is already a common situation. Of course, we want stability and confidence that if tourists have bought tours from us, they will definitely fly, have a normal rest and return. That they will love it. If, nevertheless, a nuisance occurred and the airline went bankrupt, and the tourist was abroad at that moment, then he has no other choice - he will have to buy a ticket back at his own expense if the operator cannot contribute in any way. However, for the most part, in the event of bankruptcy of both tour operators and airlines, the government helps tourists return home, especially since, for example, Samara travel agencies use Russian aircraft - all our charters are from domestic airlines. Either Nord Wind or Ural Airlines. So if a foreign airline goes bankrupt, or there is a strike, Samara tourists will not be affected.”

“For several years, a lot of tools have been proposed to solve possible problems associated with the bankruptcy of airlines,” notes Ilya Trifonov, director of the “Ambulance Legal Aid” LLC, chairman of the public association “Committee of People's Control”. - For example, the creation of an insurance fund by the airlines themselves, risk insurance using traditional insurance instruments. Nevertheless, the main source remained the federal budget funds, which were reserved and used to compensate passengers. However, the next bankruptcies have shown that the money provided for from the federal budget has long been insufficient for the transportation of passengers of airlines that have ceased operations.

The Ministry of Transport has proposed the creation of an insurance fund for the transportation of passengers of bankrupt airlines, into which airlines will deduct a portion of their revenue (a moderate share). The proposal prepared by the Ministry of Transport was sent to Russian air carriers, but the initiative of the Ministry was perceived ambiguously.”

But still, at present, for the passengers of bankrupt airlines themselves, there remains one and, perhaps, the most important question - where to apply and what to do if the airline whose flight tickets were bought went bankrupt?

“First of all, do not panic,” advises Trifonov. - Regardless of which flight the airline tickets were purchased for, regular or charter, the procedure is the same. If the accident happened abroad, then the easiest thing to do is to purchase tickets from another carrier and return to your homeland. Or wait for the decisions and actions of the consulate. Of course, in the event of bankruptcy, questions arise with food and hotel accommodation, however, as a rule, the bankruptcy of an airline is a resonant matter and consular employees do not stand aside helping compatriots.

If this happened in our country, then, as noted above, the state takes control of the situation by allocating funds from the budget and attracting other airlines to transport passengers.

As for refunds, it is easiest in a situation where tickets are purchased through a tour operator. It is he who is responsible for the flight, including the failed one, and it is to him that claims must be made (including for additional money spent on food and accommodation). In the case of buying tickets on your own, it will not be easy to achieve compensation, but it is still possible - the procedure is the same - we make a claim to the carrier and wait for compensation, in case of refusal or silence we go to court. This applies to those companies that are not officially recognized as bankrupt, but transportation and activities have already been suspended.

If the airline insured its risks, or made contributions to special funds in case of suspension of its activities, then it is necessary to apply to such funds and companies. You can find out information about them and contact information on the website of the airline or the Federal Air Transport Agency.

However, in the event of the bankruptcy of an airline recognized by the court, the procedure for obtaining funds and other compensation may be delayed indefinitely, the lawyer points out.

“The thing is that bankruptcy is a lengthy procedure, consisting of several stages, and not ending in one day,” Trifonov complains. - First of all, it is necessary to find out whether the bankruptcy procedure has been introduced in relation to a particular airline. This can be done through the official resource - Arbitration Case File - you only need to enter the name of the company in the appropriate line.

Upon learning of the existence of such a case, you must apply to the appropriate arbitration court with an application to include the claim in the register of creditors' claims, attaching to such an application all documents confirming your expenses, including those incurred in connection with the cancellation of the flight, i.e. e. actual losses (tickets, food and hotel accommodation, other expenses associated with cancellation). Such an application can be sent to the court either by post (necessarily by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt), or delivered personally or through a representative, it is not subject to state duty.

Note that participation in bankruptcy cases may require qualified legal assistance, which implies additional costs, which sometimes significantly exceed the cost of the tickets themselves.

The requirement to be included in the register of creditors' claims is included in the register by an arbitration court ruling, which specifies the amount of claims and the order in which funds are received.

Your claims against the airline will be satisfied on a first-come, first-served basis, along with the claims of other passengers, as well as the airline's creditors - airports, tankers and other companies.

Concerning compensation for moral damage- such compensation is unlikely to be achieved in the context of a bankruptcy case. The arbitration court accepts only official documents confirming the existing debts and grounds for compensation. That is, the claim for compensation for non-pecuniary damage, although it can and even should be stated, is necessarily supported by evidence - medical reports, certificates, etc. Or, if a lawsuit was filed against the company even before its official bankruptcy and by a court decision, moral damages were recovered from the airline, by the decision of the relevant court.

Thus, summing up, it can be noted that there are no situations from which it is impossible to find a way out. In any case, you can return your money back and receive compensation. related to the violation of your legal rights and interests. Of course, it is impossible to predict everything, the bankruptcy of the largest air carriers always becomes an unexpected and unpleasant surprise. However, there are always harbingers of an upcoming crisis - media reports, company ratings, and other points that you just need to pay attention to, especially when buying tickets long before departure.

The airline "VIM-Avia", the tenth largest in terms of traffic in Russia, has actually stopped flights. The reason for this is debts to Russian and foreign airports. Tickets for 140-200 thousand passengers were sold for the carrier's flights. Who will deliver them is not yet clear. The head of the Ministry of Transport Maxim Sokolov said on September 26 that it is “meaningless” to give state support to the airline now. The company's total debt has not yet been calculated.

VIM-Avia is not the only Russian company that has experienced financial difficulties, although it has not yet declared bankruptcy. Russian airlines that have gone bankrupt in recent years are in the RBC review.

AirUnion 2008

Photo: Vitaly Bezrukikh / RIA Novosti

The crisis in the airline, owned by the state corporation Rostekhnologii, occurred in August 2008 after a sharp rise in jet fuel prices. The total debt of the air carriers that were members of the alliance to the fuel supply companies exceeded $1 billion. One day, not a single flight of the alliance departed from Domodedovo, and almost 3,500 AirUnion passengers accumulated at the airport. KrasAir, the parent company of the alliance, was declared bankrupt in July 2009.

"KD Avia"

In March 2009, the Kaliningrad airline KD Avia stopped flying, having accumulated debts of 12 billion rubles. In December of the same year, one of the co-owners of KD Avia, the chairman of its board of directors, Sergei Grishchenko, was detained by law enforcement agencies in a case of deliberate bankruptcy of the company. The court declared the airline bankrupt in November 2010. Grishchenko was released from custody even earlier - in April of the same year.

"Avianova"

In October 2011, due to the difficult financial situation caused by the conflict of shareholders, the Russian low-cost airline Avianova operated. At first, the company stopped selling tickets for its flights, and also advised customers to issue a refund and use the services of other carriers. Later it was reported that the company returned about 100 million rubles to passengers for unfulfilled flights. In April 2012, Avianova went bankrupt.

AK Kuban

In December 2012, the suspension of operations and the termination of flights due to the difficult financial situation of Kuban Airlines. Money for tickets purchased through agencies, according to passengers, was returned immediately. As for the rest, it was decided to return the funds in the course of the company's bankruptcy proceedings. As a result, passengers of Kuban were transported by six airlines - Aeroflot, UTair, Red Wings, Yakutia, Rossiya and Grozny Avia. The bankruptcy procedure was initiated by the airline itself, later it was reported that the prosecutor's office found signs of deliberate bankruptcy of Kuban.

"Muscovy"

The Financial Leasing Company had the most complaints against the charter Moskovia, which achieved the introduction of a monitoring procedure in the airline, which owed it 150 million rubles. In February 2014, the interim manager of Moskovia filed a petition with the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region to declare the company bankrupt. Muscovy was declared bankrupt in October 2015.

"Epic"

The Bylina airline, which has worked on the market for 22 years, on August 26, 2014, work due to financial problems. Bylina passengers had to be returned by VIM-Avia flights. The monitoring procedure for the company was introduced in March 2016. In September of the same year, the court declared the company bankrupt.

JSC "Tatarstan"

In October 2014, the court bankrupted the Tatarstan airline, which itself initiated its own bankruptcy in court. Assumptions that the airline would go bankrupt appeared at the beginning of the year after the revocation of its air operator certificate due to violations identified by the Federal Air Transport Agency. after the crash of the Boeing-737 in Kazan, which killed 50 people.

In July 2017, Kommersant reported that the company sold its last aircraft for only 2.8 million rubles. In August, the procedure for bankruptcy proceedings was once again extended. According to the Arbitration, claims of creditors for 2.8 billion rubles were included in the register. During the years of bankruptcy proceedings, only about 50 million rubles were received on the settlement account of AK.

Ak Bars Aero

In June 2015, the Tatarstan Arbitration Court declared Ak Bars Aero bankrupt. The company, which was previously the largest carrier in Tatarstan, stopped flights in early 2015 due to the depreciation of the ruble and reduced passenger traffic.

"Transaero"

In early October 2015, Transaero, which found itself in a difficult financial situation with a debt of 230 billion rubles, stopped selling tickets, and on October 26 it lost its air operator certificate. Aeroflot assumed obligations to carry passengers with a departure date before December 15 (95% of passengers); those who purchased tickets for later dates were refunded. Passengers with tickets for departure dates after December 15 could issue a full refund. For the transportation of passengers of the bankrupt carrier Aeroflot, 17 billion rubles. In September 2017, it became known that Transaero was declared bankrupt, and its debts were 144 times the value of its assets.

The financial difficulties of the Kogalymavia airline became known during the checks that began after the terrorist attack on board the Airbus A321 in the sky over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015. The crash killed 224 people, including seven crew members. The plane was flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg.

After conducting inspections in the company, Rosaviatsia in March 2016 banned it from flying. Before that, in December 2015, Kogalymavia itself announced the termination of flights. In April 2017, the court began bankruptcy proceedings for the company. In essence, the case will be considered on 19 October.