VIM Airlines CEO General Alexander Kochnev and chief accountant Yekaterina Panteleyeva have been taken into custody for fraud and embezzling passengers’ funds while the company’s co-owners Rashid and Svetlana Mursekayev have fled Russia.
The Ministry of Transport has decided that VIM Airlines must focus on all scheduled flights and cancelled all chartered flights. Meanwhile handling companies refuse to provide services to the airline, while outstanding leasing debts accumulate. The airline is still negotiating with banks and government for extra money.
A total of ten airlines will bring back the stranded passengers: Royal Flight, Azur Air, Ellin Air, Ural Airlines, iFly, Red Wings, NordStar, Pegas Fly, Nordwind, and Yakutia Airlines. All flights will land at Vnukovo Airport (Moscow) as the other airport Domodedovo refuses to handle VIM Airlines flights.
In the past days Russia’s tenth largest carrier was forced to massively cancel and delay flights. This afternoon flight (NN871) from Wuhan to Liège (via Saint Petersburg) and the outbound flight to Changsha/Zhengzhou via Moscow (NN868) have been cancelled. It’s currently not known if one of the ten airlines will fly to Liège to pick up the stranded passengers.
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