Russian airline employees summoned less than a day after mobilization declared

According to Kommersant’s sources, employees of at least five Russian airlines (including Aeroflot Group) and more than ten airports received military summons less than a day after mobilization was declared on September 21.

The paper was told that many of the pilots working in the airline industry are reserve officers who have trained at the military departments of flying schools, or as privates who served in the army.

Sources at three of the companies admitted that potentially fifty to eighty percent of their employees could be mobilized. A source close to Aeroflot Group suggested that mobilization would affect more than half of the company’s staff, as well as Pobeda’s and Rossiya’s, which are part of the same group.

At least five airlines surveyed by the newspaper are looking into the possibility of requesting exemptions for employees needed to continue company operations. Aeroflot has set up working groups that will compile lists for exemptions for a number of specialties.

Aeroflot, S7, UTair, Ural Airlines, Red Wings, and other carriers have refrained from official comments. The Russian Ministry of Transport and Rosaviatsia did not reply to journalists’ questions.