MOSCOW, February 17 - RAPSI. A court postponed until April 16 its hearing of Aeroflot's $4.8 million claim against the VTB 24 bank, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) reported from the courtroom on Thursday.

Aeroflot seeks to recover losses resulting from the July 16, 2010 hacker attack on its online ticket sales system. The problem was only fixed a week later.

Aeroflot provided the court with a list of clients who failed to book air tickets while the system was malfunctioning. On Thursday, the bank asked the court to reschedule the hearing as it had not received the 170-page list in an electronic form and, therefore, had no time to analyze it.

The judge has satisfied the petition.

Earlier, the bank filed a counterclaim against the airline, seeking 23.7 million rubles ($739,000) in expenses and fees for the American Express card authorizations, among other damages.

VTB 24 earlier told the court that hackers attacked servers of Assist and MultiCarta, which sell e-tickets for VTB 24. The court has included these two companies as third parties to the proceedings.

Assist helps to facilitate Aeroflot's online operations, and sells Aeroflot's e-tickets together with VTB 24, the carrier's settlement bank.

Based in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, Aeroflot is a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, which flies to 898 destinations across 169 countries. Its aircraft fleet is one of the youngest in Europe. In 2010 Aeroflot transported more than 11 million passengers. The state-owned Federal State Agency for Property Management is Aeroflot's main shareholder, with a 51.17 percent stake.

VTB 24 is Russia's second largest retail bank. Its profits in 2011 were expected to reach 28 billion rubles ($927 million)