Penza, 30 December 2015. PenzaNews. The Penza airport will temporarily stop conducting the fights from Penza to St. Petersburg in January 2016, the airport director Yuri Oskolkov told PenzaNews agency.

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He explained that the flight subsidizing issue still remains unresolved, and the flights will resume as soon as the issue is dealt with.

According to Yuri Oskolkov, representatives of “RusLine” airline company that serviced the flight in spoken form expressed their intentions to resume servicing it starting from February.

“However, they will not be planning it in January due to low demand. They will resume it in February following the previous schedule, three days a week. I am waiting for them to announce it in written form today,” he said.

The current situation mostly has been caused by the big demand for flights to St. Petersburg, the airport director explained.

“Following the government decree, airline companies are offered subsidies on regional fights during the initial spin-up period. That is, when the flights undergo tests and begin gaining popularity among passengers. In 2015, the flight from Penza to St. Petersburg serviced 7,741 passengers, based on statistics on Monday, December 28. One of the criteria is under 6,000 passengers serviced, and we have surpassed it. Rosaviatsia thus refused to subsidize the flights, citing it gaining enough popularity as a reason. They have not included us in the list. Therefore, the company now says the fight is economically unsustainable for them at the moment,” Yuri Oskolkov said.

The Penza airport is holding talks with “RusLine” representatives to convince the airline company the flight is profitable, he stressed.

“On the past evening, at about 18.00, we came to the conclusion that January indeed will fall below the threshold. But they are ready to service the flight starting from February, and se we will be negotiating the conditions. The issue remains open,” added the airport director.

Speaking about the ticket prices for a flight to St. Petersburg, Yuri Oskolkov explained that this issue currently remains out of the discussion.

“We stand for the 2015 situation, to avoid any changes in the pricing policy. From 6,800 to 11,000 rubles per ticket, and no more,” he pointed out.

If “RusLine” refuses to service the flight, the airport will find another airline for it, added the director of the Penza airport.