Russian businessman Mikhail Shelkov purchased the popular American flight tracking app App in the Air for millions of dollars in 2018, reports Important Stories (iStories).
The app had over seven million users worldwide, primarily in the US, EU, UK and Russia.
The acquisition of the US company App in the Air by Mikhail Shelkov, a financier with ties to the Russian government, particularly the FSB (Russia’s Federal Security Service), raises significant concerns regarding data security and privacy. The app has access to sensitive flight data of millions of users in the US and Europe, which could potentially be exploited for espionage or malicious activities, compromising user privacy on a large scale.
The investigation found that Shelkov acquired the app through his Cyprus-based company Norbase. Shelkov has close ties to Rostec state corporation head Sergei Chemezov, a former KGB general and Vladimir Putin’s friend from their service in Dresden.
This situation also reflects broader geopolitical tensions and the risk of authoritarian regimes gaining access to personal data of citizens in democratic countries, undermining trust in technology and international relations.
“It was an internal, club deal,” Arthur Shamilov, partner at Top-contact recruitment agency, told Kommersant newspaper about Shelkov’s earlier acquisition of titanium giant VSMPO-Avisma.
In 2021, Shelkov and Annakov brought in a new partner for a similar aviation service project in Russia – 25-year-old Boris Korolev, son of FSB First Deputy Director Sergei Korolev. The younger Korolev received a 10% stake in their joint company Onboard Systems.
App in the Air was sold in 2022 to a Spanish citizen for just $2,000, according to Norbase’s financial reports. The app announced its closure in fall 2024.
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