MOSCOW, October 19 (RAPSI) – Sberbank has filed with the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region a bankruptcy claim against Transaero airlines, according to court records.

Earlier, the Moscow Commercial Court set December 1 as the date for a preliminary hearing of two lawsuits filed by Russian Regional Development Bank controlled by Rosneft  seeking to collect over 810 million rubles ($13.2 mln) from Transaero. Moreover, the court will consider on November 10 a 3.4-billion ruble ($55.4 mln) lawsuit by Rosneft subsidiary, RN-Aero, against the airline company.

Additionally the lawsuits were filed by the largest Russian airline Aeroflot, demanding 5 bln of rubles ($81.5 mln), and other companies affiliated with the largest Russian airports.

Largest private airline in Russia, Transaero, found itself unable to pay its debts estimating 250 bln rubles ($4 bln). Government-approved plan of transferring 75% of company’s shares to Aeroflot failed. Transaero may face bankruptcy from some of the creditors. Its problems result in a large number of flight cancels and delays.