MOSCOW, August 5 (RAPSI) – Air carrier Aeroflot has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court against reversal of ruling ordering the Finance Ministry of Russia to pay the company 374.4 million rubles (about $6 million) in compensation for insurance payments, according to court records.

The Moscow Commercial Court granted a lawsuit filed by the airline on November 23, 2015. The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has upheld the ruling. On June 7, the Moscow District Commercial Court granted an appeal by the Finance Ministry and overturned the lower courts’ rulings. The third party in this lawsuit is one of the Moscow departments of Russia’s Pension Fund.

Aeroflot has filed the lawsuit to retrieve the excess payments it made to the Pension Fund under a law of November 2001 on the additional social protection of civil crew members.

The amendments to the law made in December 2010 cancelled the upper ceiling on the revenue base for the assessment of insurance premiums and increased premiums from January 1, 2010. As a result, the companies that already paid insurance premiums for 2010 had to make additional payments to the Pension Fund.

In 2013, the Constitutional Court ruled that the above amendments contradicted the constitution in that they were applied retroactively, thereby affecting air carriers’ financial position.

Following that, several airlines demanded the return of overpayments they made for 2010. In September 2014, the Moscow Commercial Court granted a claim filed by UTair seeking collection of 158 million rubles ($2.4 million) from the Finance Ministry. The ruling has been upheld by higher courts. Moreover, the court has ordered the ministry to pay 26.7 million rubles ($402,150) to Donavia Airlines.

On May 5, Chamber for Commercial Disputes of Russia’s Supreme Court vacated judicial acts of lower courts in a similar suit by UTair-Helicopter Services seeking 11.4 million rubles ($171,700), thus dismissing the company’s claim.