Russia will be forced to stop using dozens of airliners "squeezed" from West in a year

In 2025, the legal period of operation of Boeing and Airbus passenger aircraft will expire, which the aggressor country russia refused to return to Western lessors after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Next year, russian airlines will probably be forced to stop using dozens of airliners.

This is stated in the material of Radio Svoboda.

Due to large-scale Western sanctions, civil aviation in russia has faced significant difficulties. Airlines operating Boeing and Airbus have lost access to spare parts and some software.

Boeing and Airbus aircraft make up two-thirds of the russian commercial fleet. At the same time, these aircraft carry about 90% of passengers. Like all aircraft, these aircraft require regular maintenance by certified specialists using certified parts.

Western sanctions prohibit private individuals and legal entities from servicing these aircraft and supplying new spare parts to russian airlines.

The publication writes that this situation poses a difficult choice for russian air carriers. They are either forced to scrap the aircraft until the sanctions end, risking flying them and putting passengers at risk, or smuggle spare parts and pay specialists to carry out maintenance in violation of the sanctions.

Russian airlines mostly choose the latter two options, but this has resulted in more frequent equipment failures. Engine failures are of greatest concern.

In 2024, the number of aviation incidents in russia increased by 25%. In the first eleven months, 208 incidents occurred. In 2023, 161 incidents were recorded.

An unnamed aviation expert told Radio Svoboda that russian airlines are approaching a critical point in the issue of using Western-made aircraft.

"I do not have accurate data on the service life of all Russian aircraft, but 2025 will be the last year of legal operation for most of them," he said on condition of anonymity.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in August 2024 it became known that the management of the russian airline Pobeda requires pilots to save fuel during flights, which negatively affects their emotional state and increases the chance of stress.

We also wrote that in July 2024, China excluded russia from the project to develop the S929 long-haul airliner.

Recall, in 2022, the russian Ministry of Transport suggested that airlines use non-original spare parts to repair Western airliners.