Judge Enzhe Imamovna Suneyeva of the Arbitration Court of Tatarstan appointed Roman Viktorovich Mavrin as the administrator of Tulpar Air Aviakompania (TUL, Kazan International), giving him until the next bankruptcy hearing on August 26, 2025, to sort out the company's finances. Meanwhile, the Kommersant daily reported that former owner Azat Hakim had tried to stop the bankruptcy process, seeing it as the company's way to avoid paying him for the sold shares.
The business jet operator filed for bankruptcy on February 7, declaring RUB588 million rubles (USD6.9 million) in debt. The court placed the company under administration on March 27, dismissing Hakim's plea to throw out the case and allow for an out-of-court settlement.
Hakim, who used to own a 49% stake in the company, claims that the bankruptcy serves to avoid paying him off. Companies under administration are allowed to default on some of their debts.
Paradoxically, it was Hakim's claim that precipitated Tulpar Air's bankruptcy filing. The former owner was initially paid RUB420 million (USD4.9 million) for his stake but later demanded an extra RUB890 million (USD10.2 million), claiming that the initial transaction undervalued his shares. After lengthy litigation, the court told Tulpar Air to pay another RUB451 million (USD5.3 million) to Hakim. The operator claimed it could not afford this and decided to file for bankruptcy.
However, Hakim is now arguing that the bankruptcy is merely a thinly veiled plot to avoid paying him off, as Tulpar Air could easily sell some of its aircraft assets to get enough cash. The operator said its assets were valued at RUB3.1 billion (USD36.5 million), but around two-thirds of them are pledged to Avers Bank as collaterals for loans used to, among other things, buy new business jets.
Hakim pointed out that Avers Bank is affiliated with TAIF, Tulpar Air's current owner, which undermines the premise that those assets cannot be sold.
According to the Russian register, as of March 12, 2025, Tulpar Air had five aircraft on its commercial certificate: two Challenger 300s, two Challenger 850s, and one Global 5000.
