Russian airplane theft – Russian civil airplanes rented from the West are now past due to be returned, so technically speaking, this is one of the greatest thefts in contemporary history. About half of Russia’s civil air travel fleet consists of planes leased from the West, amounting to over 500 aircraft, worth a total of over 10 BILLION dollars, the majority of which were manufactured by Boeing and Airbus.
Russian Airplane Theft – 500 Aircraft Leased to Russian Airlines Worth over 10 Billion Dollars
As part of the sanctions versus Russia, all these airplane rents to Russia were ended and were due to be gone back to their Western owners on 28-March-2022. A Russian representative specified that the owners would be “compensated” but there has been no action taken nor negotiation begun for either the aircraft or the return or compensation to their owners.
Earlier, Putin signed into law a measure that will allow Russian airlines to register planes leased from foreign companies into the Russian aircraft registry, where they will be issued local certificates of airworthiness. This, of course, is legal fiction, closing Russia’s eyes to the safety and airworthiness of their leased aircraft, and by re-titling the aircraft into the names of Russian airlines, it is a clear act of theft.
What will Happen to Western Aircraft in Russia?
Russian carriers will either continue running these Western airplanes, may put them into storage, or might begin cannibalizing them for extra parts. A lot depends on the length of time sanctions continue against Russia, and the effect that they have on Russian civil aviation:
- Russian airlines can no longer fly in European airspace or the airspace of many other countries, and other sanctions have significantly reduced business and tourist travel to Russia, so Russian civil air travel is mainly restricted to domestic operation. This suggests that Russia may not really need to operate these leased aircraft, so why not return them to the West?
- There is a bigger problem facing Russian aviation, which is that Boeing and Airbus have shut down maintenance operations and will no longer deliver spare parts and materials that are needed to maintain these airplanes.
- This suggests that all Boeing and Airbus aircraft, whether leased or owned by Russian airlines, will no longer be certifiably airworthy after a limited number of flight hours, because they will have missed their required scheduled maintenance. Even if the aircraft were serviced as scheduled, if they were not serviced by certified mechanics, that may not be adequate to maintain their airworthiness.
- All airplanes need to have certain parts serviced and/or replaced based on the manufacturers service schedule, and unless these parts are replaced when they fail or at the end of their life (measured in flight hours, the aircraft is no longer airworthy, which means that it is officially unsafe to fly. At that point, it is most likely that Russia will cannibalize the rented aircraft to supply spare parts to keep the rest of their fleet operational. A cannibalized part is not a new part, and its age is a combination of the hours flown on the original aircraft and the aircraft it was transplanted into, and when that part reaches its scheduled end of life, the part and the aircraft it was transplanted into are no longer airworthy. Using cannibalized parts requires careful recordkeeping to track the cumulative age of each part, and it is likely that Russia’s domestic airlines may not be as careful as the aircraft manufacturer’s service people.
- Most likely, the 83 regional jets made by Bombardier, Embraer and ATR will suffer the same lack of support and spare parts from their manufacturers.
- After about a year of flying without service, parts, and support from their foreign manufacturers, it is likely that most of Russia’s civil aviation fleet will no longer be airworthy, and Russia will be reduced to using its 144 domestically-made aircraft, and domestic travel across Russia will mostly revert to its network of railroads. Air travel will be reserved for the elite and for the engineers and technicians needed to help maintain what industry and infrastructure will be left as Russia’s economy deteriorates.
