Russia’s largest airline, state-controlled Aeroflot, will take control of the country’s No. 2 carrier Transaero in a government-brokered deal to stave off bankruptcy at the heavily indebted company, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Aeroflot Group, which says it already controls 37% of the Russian market, will restructure Transaero, which accounts for 14.4% of the country’s passenger traffic, and merge it into its group of companies.

Transaero has struggled with heavy debts as Russians have cut foreign travel as the country’s economy is in recession and the ruble has lost around half of its value in the past year.

“It is a mild form of nationalization of the struggling company. Which is very sensible as it is a huge headache for any country to bankrupt an air carrier. A handover of the company into the arms of a carrier, which is close to the state, looks logical,” Boris Rybak, chief executive at aviation consultancy firm Infomost Consulting said, according to the WSJ.

According to the official RIA news agency, the deal is for a symbolic 1 ruble. Both companies declined to comment on the deal price.