MOSCOW, December 19 (RAPSI) – The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region has set preliminary hearings in a two billion-ruble ($32.3 mln) lawsuit, filed by Aeroflot against Transaero airline, for March 2, court documents read on Monday.

Last December, the Moscow Commercial Court ruled to award Aeroflot the full amount of its 5 billion rubles ($80.5 million) claim against Transaero over a debt incurred under the loan agreement of September 4, 2015. Appeals courts upheld the ruling. Transaero appealed rulings in the Supreme Court.

Some other Aeroflot suits against Transaero are reviewed by courts. In December 2015, Transaero was ordered to pay out about 5.3 billion rubles ($85 million). On January 25, the court recovered from the defendant around 2.85 billion rubles ($45.9 million) it owed to the plaintiff. A counterclaim by Transaero seeking to find the loan agreement between airlines invalid was dismissed. The Ninth Commercial Court upheld the ruling. Both rulings have already taken effect.

In 2015, Transaero found itself unable to pay its debts estimated at 250 billion rubles (about $4 billion). Government-approved plan of transferring 75% of company’s shares to Aeroflot failed. Its problems resulted in a large number of flight cancels and delays.

In October 2015, Sberbank and Alfa Bank filed bankruptcy petitions against the troubled airline. The Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region initiated a bankruptcy procedure against Transaero on December 16.

On November 17 of this year, Transaero air carrier filed an application with the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region seeking to drop bankruptcy proceedings against it. Transaero managers submitted the company’s business resumption plan. The airline’s management headed by Director General Alexander Burdin analyzed alternatives which could make it possible to return money to creditors via relaunching the airline on the base of its assets, the document reads.

On November 23, the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region postponed hearings in Sberbank’s bankruptcy claim against Transaero until March 1, 2017. Temporary manager of the airline filed a motion to postpone hearings because all demands of creditors were met.

This November Transaero managers submitted the company’s business resumption plan. The airline’s management headed by Director General Alexander Burdin analyzed alternatives which could make it possible to return money to creditors via relaunching the airline on the base of its assets, the document reads.