Formal sale agreement struck with EAS Group covers three airlines and maintenance units as the carrier operates a reduced fleet
Volga-Dnepr Group is reportedly set to be sold to EAS Group (Evraz Avia Service) in the first quarter of the year after a lengthy period of financial difficulties caused by war-related sanctions.
Air Cargo News reported in September last year that Russian publication Kommersant had outlined that Yevgeny Solodilin, the former chief executive of Russia’s Zhukovsky Airport and Red Wings Airlines, was in talks to buy the group.
Now a formal sale agreement has been struck between Volga-Dnepr and the Solodilin-led EAS Group, according to Russian publication Logirus.
The sale involves the transfer of three airlines, Volga-Dnepr, Atran and AirBridgeCargo, as well as Volga-Dnepr Technics and Volga-Dnepr Engineering.
Volga-Dnepr Group now reportedly operates only three AN-124 aircraft out of eleven and five IL-76, said Logirus. Four AN-124s have been held abroad in line with sanctions imposed since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022.
The Atran fleet has been reduced to two AN-12s, and AirBridgeCargo has 14 Boeing aircraft in storage, including nine Boeing 747-8Fs.
According to fleet tracking website Planespotters, Volga-Dnepr currently has seven AN-124s (not including those impounded) and five IL-76s.
Russia carriers have faced operational restrictions from Canada, the European Union, UK and the US since the Russia-Ukraine war broke out.
These sanctions have stopped the group from flying over European and North American airspace, which has limited its operations.
One of its AN-124 aircraft has also been seized by Canadian authorities as part of sanctions and has been stuck at Toronto Pearson Airport since 2022. Others are also reported to have been impounded abroad.
EAS is expected to seek government permission to arrange for nine 747-8Fs to return to lessors, as well as to regain access to a Boeing 737-800F held in Cologne and three AN-124s with a spare parts warehouse in Leipzig.
The company is also expected to seek other Boeing aircraft from foreign owners to build up operations again. The company is also considering the possibility of integrating Russian IL-96-400, Tu-204 and Tu-214 aircraft into the fleet.
In December, Aeroflot Group disclosed that its fleet has expanded with two Boeing 747-400ERFs and two 737-800BCFs, all of which were placed with subsidiary Rossiya.
Aeroflot Group did not specify the source of the freighters but Volga-Dnepr Group’s scheduled cargo arm AirBridgeCargo (ABC) and its associate Atran operated both types.
