Russia's aviation in crisis: Aeroflot calls for Kremlin measures!

Russia's aviation in crisis: Aeroflot calls for Kremlin measures!

Russian aviation is facing enormous challenges due to Western sanctions. Aeroflot CEO Sergei Alexandrovsky calls for urgent action from the Kremlin to boost domestic aircraft production. He proposes to limit the number of foreign aircraft in Russia to 50% in order to strengthen the production capacities of the domestic industry. The background to this demand is that deliveries of aircraft and spare parts from the USA and the EU have stopped since the beginning of the war. The Aeroflot fleet consists predominantly of foreign aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, which further complicates the situation.

Despite plans to build over 1,000 civil aircraft by 2030, actual production has remained in the single digits for the past three years. This shows the extent of the difficulties Russia faces in the aviation industry. In addition, Aeroflot is only allowed to operate international flights to a limited extent due to flight bans and sanctions imposed by Western countries. To avoid these challenges, Russian airlines use their aircraft primarily for domestic flights.

Reactions to the sanctions

The European Commission is tightening sanctions against Russian aviation and has stipulated that airlines from third countries are not allowed to fly to the EU if they operate flights to Russia. In practice, this means that many Russian airlines have difficulty operating internationally. In addition, Russia rented numerous aircraft from the West and transferred them to the Russian register after the start of the war in order to make returns more difficult. This violates the internationally applicable Chicago Convention, which sets rules for civil aviation fr.de reported.

Another serious problem is aviation safety. An internal report at Aeroflot suggests the airline is ignoring safety-related deficiencies to avoid grounding planes. This is done by cabin crew only being allowed to document defects after coordination with the pilots. Before the war, every deviation had to be recorded in writing and escalated, which is no longer the case. Aeroflot has denied the allegations as bogus, but management is facing criticism that the practice could jeopardize passenger safety n-tv.de reported.

Lack of materials and creative solutions

The material shortage primarily affects aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, as Western companies are prohibited from supplying spare parts. Two thirds of the civilian machines in Russia come from Western manufacturers. Russian airlines are trying to get around this bottleneck by scrapping aircraft and procuring spare parts from third countries. Despite the embargo, reports have shown that thousands of spare parts continue to enter Russia, often through obscure channels and networks.

The situation is tense: between summer 2021 and summer 2022, the number of smaller aircraft in use fell by 16%, while larger long-haul aircraft are even 40% fewer in operation. This leads to a decline in international flight activities. Recent data from Cirium shows that tens of thousands of flights have flown over Russia this month, with more than half coming from Russian airlines. The situation in Russian aviation remains critical and requires urgent solutions and interventions from the state in order to stabilize the industry.