Russia's Transaero offers 75% stake to Aeroflot

Russia's struggling Transaero airline said on Thursday it had offered to sell 75 percent stake to state-controlled flagship carrier Aeroflot.

The announcement came after a decision to consolidate the two airlines was made at a government meeting earlier this week.

"Transaero's majority shareholders have sent Aeroflot a proposal to sell 75 percent of its stocks plus 1," the airline said in a statement.

The decision had been made "in the interest of its passengers, employees, partners and creditors," it said.

"The company's shareholders are convinced that the Russian government's plan to consolidate the air transportation sector will be realised," the statement said.

Transaero, which began operating in 1991, is the second-largest Russian airline and the country's largest privately-owned carrier.

The indebted company's woes worsened when the ruble collapsed last year on the back of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis and lower energy prices.

Aeroflot, which is 51-percent owned by the Russian government, grew out of the Soviet monopoly of the same name.

Although Aeroflot did not suffer from the economic crisis as much as its competitors, the company lost 3.5 billion rubles ($52.4 million) in the first half of the year.