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PHOTO: pixabay
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So far no such thing has happened – at least not on this scale. Russia refuses to return 400 planes that do not belong to it at all. Their total value is 10 billion dollars. “This is the biggest plane theft in history.”
Hopes to get planes back fade: Companies that leased passenger planes to Russia, such as industry leaders Aercap or Avolon, had to terminate their contracts with Russian airlines by Monday as a result of Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine. . The measures were announced a month ago, but Russian airlines never returned the rented cars, writes Deutsche Welle.
More than 400 passenger planes worth $ 10 billion
“I fear we are witnessing the biggest theft of aircraft in the history of civil aviation,” said Vladimir Bilotkach, a professor of air traffic management at Singapore’s Institute of Technology. Henrik Holloley, the EC’s director general responsible for mobility and transport, agrees. According to him, the leasing planes in Russia were “stolen”. There are more than 400 passenger planes worth about $ 10 billion, most of which will obviously be lost.
Following the imposition of Western sanctions, Russia has taken urgent action to prevent the leased machines from being shut down: they have simply been re-registered in Russia to renew their security certificates. However, according to international rules, double registration is not allowed. In this regard, Hololey says this is a serious violation of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. According to the Russian government, more than half of the 515 leased aircraft have been registered.
Most of these aircraft operate domestic flights, although they have been revoked by the relevant authorities in Ireland and Bermuda. And without these certificates, machines are not actually allowed to fly. Using them for international flights, which are already severely restricted, would lead to their confiscation abroad. That is why the EC monitors very closely every passenger plane leaving Russia and works closely with the authorities in the countries where Russian planes land. Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that 78 such planes were detained abroad last week.
Who will pay?
The question is who will pay the damages. Although the planes in question are insured, experts believe that in all probability the leasing companies will have to seek their rights in court for many years, as these are huge sums. According to the rating agency Moody’s, the damage from the war in Ukraine will cost insurance and reinsurance companies up to 11 billion dollars. But even if these planes are returned to their owners over time, their value will be unclear because they will not be maintained as prescribed and with original parts. This is due to the fact that both the maintenance and delivery of original components by Airbus and Boeing are included in the list of sanctions against Russia.
For the leasing companies themselves, the losses are large, but still bearable, as less than 10 percent of the available aircraft are leased to Russian airlines. “This will not bankrupt these companies,” said Brad Daly, director of Alton Aviation Consultancy, who previously worked for Irish leasing giant Aercap. However, the Daily added that this will affect future relations with Russia, whose market potential will change radically.
Meanwhile, several private Russian airlines, which are worried about their future business relations with the West, have signaled that they want to return the leased aircraft. However, they need the permission of the Russian government for this.
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