Russia may allow third-party companies to maintain its commercial passenger aircraft, Russian news agency TASS reported. The move comes as aircraft manufacturers, including Boeing and Airbus, suspended support to Russian airlines in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
TASS says that Russia’s Transport of Ministry has published a draft document, which includes measures to support Russian airlines through September 1, 2022. The draft document would include “the repair of aircraft and the replacement of their components by third-party companies, if they meet the requirements for maintenance companies”.
Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, and Bombardier, have suspended support to Russian airlines, including supply of spare parts and jet maintenance.
The fleets of Russia’s three largest airlines are mainly comprised of Airbus and Boeing manufactured aircraft.
Russia’s flag carrier, Aeroflot, has a total of 184 aircraft in its fleet, including 115 Airbus-manufactured, 59 Boeing-made, and only 10 Russian produced jets, as per Planespotters.net data.
S7 – Siberia Airlines has a fleet of 105 aircraft, consisting of 48 Airbus A320s, 16 Airbus A321s, three Airbus A319s, 21 Boeing 737s, and 17 Embraer ERJ-170 jets, Planespotters.net data shows.
Ural Airlines has a fleet of 53 aircraft, all of which are Airbus-manufactured jets, according to Planespotters.net.
Russia’s aircraft manufacturer, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), has been trying to design and develop its own commercial aircraft in part to be less dependent from foreign models. However, the key projects are still in the development phase.
