Polet (Voronezh Chertovitskoye) CEO Anatoly Karpov is reportedly willing to offload as much as 49% in the carrier to help shore up its depleted finances. Karpov told Russia's Kommersant that a potential buyer had been found with a deal likely to be signed during the first quarter of next year. He did not, however, disclose who or what amount of equity they were considering buying.

The carrier suspended operations late last month when it failed to service outstanding debts owed to lessor the Ilyushin Finance Co. and Voronezh Chertovitskoye operator, Voronezhavia.

However, the CEO said the decision to suspend passenger flights stemmed not from inadequate finances, but rather from a lack of airworthy aircraft. Polet could not maintain regular flights using a skeleton fleet of three aircraft after a Saab 340B and a Saab 2000 were required to undergo a mandatory C check, he said.

Karpov went on to add that scheduled passenger flights could resume as early as this month pending the finalization of all necessary financial guarantees. Prior to its suspension, Polet had operated a fleet of five Saab 2000s and five Saab 340Bs on passenger flights connecting Belgorod, St. Petersburg, Moscow Domodedovo, Munich, Yerevan, and Voronezh Chertovitskoye.