Why Russian Civil Aviation Has Turned into a Pumpkin
Why has Russian civil aviation turned into a pumpkin in a few days?
First the news, then the commentary. The reader will be able to observe the situation as it develops.
February 28. RBC
“The European Union has ordered leasing companies servicing commercial airlines to terminate contracts with Russian carriers by March 28.
By March 28, foreign leasing companies must terminate leasing agreements with Russian airlines. Of the Russian fleet of 980 aircraft, 777 are leased, of which 515 with an estimated value of $10 billion are with foreign lessors.”
The entire world flies on mainline aircraft from two manufacturers - the American Boeing and the French Airbus. There are also smaller manufacturers (and smaller aircraft), such as the Brazilian Embraer, the Franco-Italian ATR or the Canadian De Havilland (until 2019 - Bombardier), but these are regional aircraft for specific tasks.
It is interesting that the Russian Federation tried to create its own regional aircraft - the Sukhoi Superjet, and the model turned out to be extremely interesting - right at the commercial presentation, with potential customers on board, the plane was simply smashed against a mountain in Indonesia.
Of course, after such fiery advertising, the plane was doomed to success, and it did not take long - even those small deliveries that were possible led to adventures for the buyer companies, up to "aircraft cannibalism" - a situation when, in order to ensure the airworthiness of one aircraft due to a shortage of spare parts, it is necessary to remove spare parts from another - the donor.
Since, often, the same parts fail, the number of donors is growing, and the number of those flying is decreasing.
In fact, almost everything that flies in Russia, especially mainline aircraft, is foreign-made.
Well, half (!) of the entire fleet must be returned by March 28. Let's see how things develop further.
March 5. INTERFAX.RU
“Rosaviatsia recommends that Russian airlines suspend all international flights from March 6 amid mass arrests of aircraft abroad.
Almost all civil aircraft in the fleets of Russian airlines are registered abroad - mainly in Bermuda. Russian-made aircraft, including the Superjet 100, flew mainly within the Russian Federation even before the sanctions.”
Ahahaha, this news made my day - both the country of registration of almost all aircraft of the Russian Federation, and a direct message from the government service to companies - guys, for now we fly domestically, then we will quickly win, and figure out what to do next.
March 12. INTERFAX.RU
“The Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) has suspended the airworthiness certificates of aircraft of Russian airlines registered in Bermuda.
For any aircraft in the air at 23:59 UTC on March 12, 2022, the temporary suspension will take effect immediately upon landing,” the BCAA website says.
Sanctions against the Russian Federation have limited the local regulator’s ability to supervise the safety of Russian aircraft and it “cannot say with certainty that these aircraft are fit to fly.”
Oops. No luck. 745 out of 980 aircraft will not be able to fly even within the Russian Federation. That’s what life-giving sanctions do. These packages of sanctions can be put into a bag for packages, and these planes into a bag for planes.
But it is known that sanctions are not as scary for Russians as counter-sanctions.
And no one is so instilling Russophobia here as you know who is instilling this Russophobia here.
March 14. TheBell.io
“President Putin today made the expected decision to solve the problem of foreign aircraft leased by Russian airlines.
He signed a law allowing the registration of rights to these aircraft and issuing them domestic airworthiness certificates”
But here the reader needs an explanatory team to understand in detail what exactly happened.
Imagine that you gave your business partner Vasya a car to drive under a power of attorney. A good, new, expensive car. But this is for business.
Vasya is Russian.
And then the thrashing begins, all Russians are starting to be loved less.
And you are like - “Vasya, isn’t it difficult to return the car?”.
Vasya first says "tomorrow-tomorrow", then "bad connection", then doesn't pick up the phone, and then you see your car with Dagestan license plates against the backdrop of Moscow City in the "for sale" section of OLX.
Changing the registration of an airplane is the same situation. Without the owner's consent, the number and country of registration are changed.
But the consequences for Russian aviation are slightly less obvious.
Not a single aircraft manufacturer will supply spare parts for the Russian Federation anymore.
Also, modern airplanes have modern avionics that require monthly (!) map updates. Without an updated map, the airplane has no right to take off at all, and if it does take off, there is a high probability of repeating the Superjet's advertising flight.
That's how things are.