Russia’s largest private airline, S7, has suspended work on the Citrus low-cost carrier project due to the inability to purchase new aircraft.
“Under the current circumstances, the S7 Group is freezing the Citrus low-cost carrier project. In 2022, the supplies needed to launch the low-cost carrier will not be delivered, so the development of an airline with such a business model is unfortunately impossible now,” S7 said.
S7 planned to launch the low-cost carrier Citrus in July. He was to be engaged in transportation in central Russia bypassing Moscow’s airports and based in Kazan and Omsk.
The company announced plans to launch a low-cost airline last summer. It was planned that the aircraft of low-cost flights would be painted in white and pink colors. As conceived by the airline, the name Citrus reflects the airline’s goal – to connect Russian cities and is short for Cities of Russia.
The low-cost airline has three Airbus A319 aircraft in its fleet, which was required to obtain an air operator’s certificate. Earlier, Citrus announced about intentions to purchase eight Airbus A320 neo aircraft, but after Russia’s invasion, it was not possible to do.
In March, the European Union banned European companies from supplying, leasing, maintaining and insuring aircraft in Russia. The United States, the European Union and several other countries have also closed the skies to Russian aircraft.
