- Many airlines are now abandoning contracts for new aircraft and optimizing their fleet. You are, on the contrary, purchasing SSJ100s. How do you plan to use these aircraft?

- This is the fourth SuperJet 100 in our fleet. The program for the development of air transportation on SSJ started for us on September 15 this year, and we have achieved, I believe, good results: 9 flight directions have been opened, and 6 more will be added since the new year. Despite the pandemic, we are full of optimism, for example, the average load on flights from Yekaterinburg already reaches 80%, which, in general, is a very good result. Our aviation authorities are also helping us by subsidizing a number of areas. We are optimistic about the future and look forward to adding Superjets to the airline's fleet next year. In total, we expect to receive 15-16 SSJ100 aircraft in 2020-2021. Further, the same amount.

- How, in general, will your airline's fleet look like at the end of 2021?

- We plan to expand our aircraft fleet and bring the number of aircraft of the A320 family to 20 airliners, plus - there will be 16 SSJ 100. We also start another new project, and we have applied for the development of a new type of aircraft - Boeing 777. I think that in January we will start flights on this plane. We planned to receive 7 SSJ 100 aircraft back in 2020, but for a number of reasons, the delivery of 3 airliners was postponed to the first quarter of 2021. The flight program that has now been implemented is fully supported by four SSJ aircraft.

- Why do you need Boeing 777 aircraft?

- We plan to initially receive 3 Boeing 777s. We need them for two projects: a flight program to China and a tourist program. In the 777 project, we act together, in fact, with the owners of the aircraft. A situation has developed in which it would be definitely stupid to abandon such a project.

- How does your project of VIP transportation from Vnukovo airport feel?

- As for the VIP-transportation project from Vnukovo, it has been launched for a year now and two aircraft are involved in it: Tu-204 and SSJ100. These are not our aircraft - they belong to the UAC. We act as the direct operator of these two corporate jets. Previously, the operator of these aircraft was RusJet, and now we are. This is not a purely VIP aviation, but rather corporate transportation. We carry out very few, strictly speaking, custom flights. Although, there are also such, but, basically, these are corporate transportation. We do not plan to become such a specialized VIP transport operator. This is our responsibility as a subsidiary of UAC, on behalf of our shareholders.

- Do you expect any additional problems with the SSJ against the background of the new US sanctions against the Russian aircraft industry?

- No, we don't. So far, everything is going according to plan.

- You said that the deliveries of the aircraft were moved?

- Yes, but for another reason - a greater number of aircraft now, in winter, are not provided with the flight program. It seems to me that it is in the interests of both sides to start operating them in the spring, from the high season. It is an extremely difficult task to provide 7 new aircraft with a route grid. For Red Wings, with its size of 15 aircraft, in fact, this increases the fleet by 50% at once.

- Do you plan to open new routes in Russia from the Domodedovo airport?

- Of course, we have already formed a summer program. The SSJ aircraft themselves will not be based at Domodedovo and will disperse to our regional bases. And in Domodedovo, the expansion will be from the point of view of the program on Airbus aircraft, first of all, and, taking into account that the fleet will be replenished, of course, we will add new directions. First of all, we will link our traditional locations and the new base in Yekaterinburg, as the fastest growing, into a single network. We are also considering several more areas for the potential basing of SSJ aircraft and, accordingly, all these bases will be connected with Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of our traditional presence, including Sochi and Simferopol, from where we historically operate flights. In terms of structure, it will be a web that loads itself with passengers through regional flights, primarily on SSJ100 aircraft, and provides communication with the capitals and southern Russia.

- What new regions are you considering for the base of SSJ100s?

- It's no secret that our SSJ program needs to be co-financed in some part - subsidies under Resolution 1242 (editor's note: on subsidizing regional transportation). Accordingly, a preliminary study is needed to select a solution to open one or another base. The final distribution will be completed by us in February-March. There are some sideways here, I do not want to announce them now both from the point of view of commerce and from the point of view of our promotion.

- There is also an MC-21 aircraft in your plans. When are they going to be delivered?

- Well, let's first wait until the certification of the aircraft is completed. As far as I understand, the plans are to implement this in 2021. We will be one of the first operators of this aircraft and we are ready for this.

- How many SSJ aircraft will there be in the airline's fleet, and how many aircraft of this type will be based in each hub?

- There will be 32 SSJ100 aircraft in total. I think that the Ural hub will consist of about 15 aircraft. In the future, there may be up to 20. There are many divarications and we, in fact, have three business plans for this project. If we are talking about southern directions, then this is up to 10 aircraft. We are also negotiating with the administration of the Kaliningrad region about the basing and development of the hub at the Khrabrovo airport and the reincarnation of the story that was in the 2000s (editor's note: as a European transit hub). It is possible only when normal international communication is restored. Now flights across Russia from Kaliningrad have grown by 40% in terms of passenger traffic. There, in principle, everything is fine even without a base carrier. But if we look more broadly, then this, of course, is a plus for international affairs. There are also options for a "Siberian" base, for the Far East, but everything depends on how the project of creating a Far Eastern airline will be implemented. By and large, it will potentially close the entire Far East. We have a responsibility to be flexible and act according to the situation. This is the advantage and strength of Red Wings, that a small company can, one way or another, adjust its plans without compromising the overall strategy.

- What are the results of transportation in 2020?

- In terms of passenger traffic, exactly half of last year's. The financial disadvantage is huge. Serious, big minus, but commensurate with life. Speaking of additional capitalization, this would certainly be a great way out. Such issues are being discussed, purely theoretically, but so far there are no practical solutions. Several scenarios are possible here. It all depends on many factors.

- How is your joint project with Smartavia being implemented?

- We continue to work and live in the alliance, as before. Despite our slight departure to another project, we use one base airport. They were both our partners and they are. However, code-sharing is still prohibited by law on subsidized flights. Here we are working with the Federal Air Transport Agency on this part, please allow this procedure. Now flights subsidized by 1242 fly purely under the Red Wings code, and all other regular routes, except for international ones, where Smartavia does not have access, we operate with a joint code. We sell to each other, we jointly maintain aircraft, we have a joint control and engineering center, the representative office in Domodedovo is Smartavia employees, in St. Petersburg, Smartavia employees. We have many points of contact, including the elaboration of networks, taking into account the fact that they are operated by 2 friendly airlines, frequency distribution, flights at a certain time ... In a word, we complement each other.

- When, in your opinion, will we overcome the consequences of the air transportation crisis due to COVID-19?

- Everyone suffers the crisis in different ways, someone is easier, someone is harder. But I think that we will see the real consequences of the crisis next fall. And this year, all the partners of the airlines went to meet us, both lessors and government assistance. This set of measures allowed airlines, almost all without exception, to overcome the crisis today. And, importantly, a piece of summer did take place. Next year we will act in the same way according to the situation.