In its press release dated 14 January, The State Transport Company “Rossiya” (Russian acronym GTK Rossiya) says it is due for privatization by 30 January 2011.

According to GTK Rossiya press service, preparations to privatization were the top priority for the airline management in the whole of the past year.

Today, GTK Rossiya is a state organization whose assets belong to the Russian government and managed by Russian Technologies state corporation (Rostechnologii), a giant state holding structure created three years ago, which controls over two hundred state companies. Shortly after GTK Rossiya, together with a handful of other Russian airlines, went under control of Rostechnologii, it was considered to serve as a base for consolidation of this bunch of airlines and formation of a merger under control of Rostechnologii.

However, the minister for transportation Igor Levitin managed to talked Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin into handing GTK Rossiya to Aeroflot. In the middle of the past year the Russian government made decision to hand over GTK Rossiya assets to the Russian flag carrier. Today, Aeroflot management controls the carrier, but the latter still belongs to the Russian government.