The price of the transaction is estimated to USD 230 million.
Norilsk Nickel buys 100 percent of the stakes in Nordavia, which operates flights between Moscow, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, a source close to the company tells Kommersant.
After the transaction, Nordavia might be merged with Taymyr airlines, also owned by Norilsk Nickel.The new company will have a passenger base large enough to make it the seventh largest in Russia.
Norilsk Nickel’s airline company Taymyr (Nordstar Airlines) operates flights between Norilsk’s headquarters in the Arctic and Moscow. It carried 537 000 passengers in 2010.
Nordavia carried 1.4 million passengers in 2010 on its 15 Boeing 737s and four Antonov An-24s, making it Russia’s 16th largest carrier.
