Russia says it lost 76 planes due to Western sanctions "storm"

A Russian commercial aircraft (Photo: Tass).

RIA Novosti reported that Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said over the weekend that the country had lost 76 passenger planes as a result of Western sanctions imposed to pressure Russia to abandon its more than 21-month military campaign in Ukraine.

"We were caught off guard. Russia was caught by surprise when the West seized 76 passenger planes," Mr. Savelyev said at the exhibition called "Russia in Action."

Mr. Savelyev said Russia currently has 1,302 aircraft, including 1,167 passenger planes. Before the outbreak of hostilities, many Russian passenger planes were registered abroad and leased to Russian airlines.

The 76 figure he mentioned includes aircraft that were undergoing technical maintenance, being repaired abroad or were previously ordered and about to be put into service. After the outbreak of hostilities, they were not transferred to Russia.

In addition to the issue of seized aircraft, Russia’s aviation industry has been hit hard by Western sanctions. Russian-operated aircraft have been sanctioned by the US government and Western aircraft manufacturers have stopped supplying spare parts and new aircraft to Russia.

According to Bloomberg , the move has affected about 70% of passenger planes in Russia.

The US and EU have demanded that Russia return planes leased from the West, although the Kremlin has sought to resolve the issue by allowing Russian airlines to register planes leased from foreign companies.

These planes will be issued with airworthiness certificates by local authorities, which will allow Russian airlines to take over planes leased from abroad and use them for domestic routes.

However, this means that the aircraft will not receive software upgrades from the manufacturer. Maintenance, servicing, and inspection activities according to the company's standards will also be affected.

Russia is trying to work around sanctions and look for alternatives to Western-made parts and equipment to keep its aviation industry running.

In the country's aviation development program until 2030, the Russian Ministry of Transport said it expected Moscow to gradually reduce the number of foreign aircraft in operation.

The agency added that airlines would seek to replace Western-made spare parts, according to state news agency Interfax.

Anastasia Dagaeva, an independent expert on Russian aviation, said Moscow's airlines have been under a lot of pressure in recent times due to the loss of international destinations, lease contracts, technical support, partnerships...

"The main goal of Russia's civil aviation industry is to maintain its fleet until 2030," Dagaeva said, stressing that the industry will not disappear anytime soon, but will become more closed.

Russia is also focusing on developing its own passenger aircraft. In September, it announced the successful test of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 commercial aircraft.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/nga-noi-bi-mat-76-may-bay-vi-bao-trung-phat-cua-phuong-tay-20231127084302035.htm