MOSCOW — Natalia V. Fileva, the longtime Russian airline executive who died on Sunday in a plane crash in Germany, was credited with consolidating splinter companies of the former Soviet aviation giant Aeroflot into a viable and profitable airline.

Ms. Fileva, along with her husband, Vladislav Filev, founded and ran S7 airline, Russia’s second-largest passenger carrier after the national flag airline, which is still called Aeroflot. She was chairwoman and co-owner of the company. The couple also ventured into the private space launch business.

Ms. Fileva was flying with her father in a small propeller plane when, en route from Cannes, France, it crashed in a field a few miles from an airport in Egelsbach, in southern Germany, Russian and German news media said. Her father, identified by some news organizations as Valery Karachev, and the pilot were also killed. An investigation was underway, said Roman Trotsenko, a longtime business partner of Ms. Fileva’s.

Known for her tenacity in the face of setbacks, including fatal crashes of her company’s planes, Ms. Fileva was outspoken about the Russian government’s heavy hand in business; last year she chided officials for speaking at a conference about ending corruption while wearing thousand-dollar suits to the event.