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A decision without precedents so far – at least in terms of number. Russia holds 400 leased aircraft because, after the imposition of sanctions, leasing firms are not allowed to cooperate with Russian airlines.
Companies that rent aircraft, such as Aercap and Avolon are losing hope that they will get back their planes that they leased to Russian airlines and are now in Russia. Due to Western sanctions against Russia after the occupation of Ukraine these companies terminated contracts with Russian airlines. Although the announcement of the termination of the contracts became known about a month ago so far Russian airlines have not yet returned more than 500 aircraft worth about ten billion dollars.
“I am afraid we will witness the largest aircraft theft in the history of commercial civil aviation,” said Volodymyr Bilotkach, professor of Air Traffic Management at the Singapore Institute of Technology. The director general of the EU Transport Commission, Henrik Hololei, also complained that the planes in Russia had been “stolen from their rightful owners”.
Serious violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation
Following the imposition of sanctions, Russia expedited the passage of a law to prevent the removal of aircraft from service. The planes in question are registered in Bermuda and Ireland and the authorities of these countries have suspended their air safety certificates and are therefore not allowed to take off.
To maintain the necessary safety certificates, the leased aircraft were simply re-registered in Russia. But according to international rules dual registration is not allowed. Henrik Hololei said this is a serious violation of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. According to the Russian government, more than half of the 515 leased aircraft have already been registered with the Russian authorities.
Most leased aircraft are used for domestic flights to Russia. The EU Aviation Agency Eurocontrol now tracks any aircraft leaving Russia and, in co-operation with authorities in the countries where the planes land, confiscates them. According to a report by the Russian news agency Interfax last week, 78 such planes that had flown abroad were confiscated./DW
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