Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev has admitted that Western-made leasing planes stolen by the Russian Federation will never be able to leave Russia.
“They (planes) will not be serviced in the West because we stole someone else’s property,” Savelyev said at a meeting of the committee of the Federation Council on economic policy on March 22.
It is noted that these planes will no longer fly abroad, “only to friendly countries.”
As of March 22, 78 planes of Russian airlines were arrested in different countries in connection with Western sanctions, including in countries that Russia considers friendly – Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
Savelyev ordered to operate the stolen aircraft and carry out maintenance at Russian enterprises.
The maintenance of stolen Airbus and Boeing aircraft will be carried out at three repair plants- S 7 ENGINEERING, Vnukovo Aircraft Repair Plant and A-Techniks.
S 7 ENGINEERING – is an MRO provider in Russia and CIS that offers maintenance services for Western-built aircraft and components.
The company is certified by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) under Part-145, Part-147 and OTAR Part 39 Option 2 Subpart E for all scheduled maintenance services for Western-built aircraft and components: Airbus A320ceo Family, Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737-300/400/500, Boeing 737-600/700/800/900, Boeing 737 MAX, Boeing 757, Embraer 170, SSJ-100.
Vnukovo Aircraft Repair Plant is an active participant in the implementation of a comprehensive program of reconstruction and strategic development of the Vnukovo Airport Complex.
A-Techniks is one of the largest providers of aircraft maintenance and repair in Russia, part of the Aeroflot Group. It is FAP-285 certified for maintenance of Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 777, Airbus A350, Airbus A320Family and SSJ 100. It is the only organization in Russia with unique competencies in performing periodic maintenance of the latest Airbus A350 aircraft and heavy maintenance of Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 aircraft.
“Both Airbus and Boeing have suspended the supply of spare parts as well as services. This means that even if Russia waives safety regulations, the aircraft will still run into insurmountable technical hurdles if they continue flying.
Smaller suppliers to Russia’s market have also paused services, including Rolls-Royce, Safran, GE Aviation and Embraer. Whilst Russia recently suggested that it may allow domestic third-party companies to step in as maintenance providers, this would not solve the problem of spare parts. Part of Russia’s attempts to stop repossession is likely to utilize the leased aircraft for spare parts, but even this only prolongs the inevitable collapse of Russia’s aerospace industry,” said William Davies, Associate Defense Analyst at GlobalData.
Meanwhile, due to future maintenance problems Russia is considering the possibility of temporarily resuming the serial production of the aircraft developed during the Soviet era, Tupolev Tu-204 and Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft.
