In brief: Russia’s Transport Ministry has drafted a two-year extension to wartime rules that allowed airlines to retain aircraft after foreign leasing companies demanded their return. Russian carriers still depend on Western-built jets as domestic manufacturers work to deliver replacements.
Russia’s Transport Ministry has proposed allowing airlines to keep flying aircraft that foreign leasing companies sought to recover after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The draft would extend the current rules by two years, through the end of 2028, Vedomosti reported on Friday, Nov. 6, after reviewing the document.
Russia’s air operators’ association has circulated the proposal to carriers and expects their responses by Nov. 17. If the government adopts it, airlines could continue to insure, repair and maintain the leased aircraft and engines under Russian rules after the current arrangements expire at the end of 2026.
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Moscow introduced the rules in March 2022, when foreign leasing companies demanded their planes back and Western manufacturers cut off parts and technical support. The measures allowed Russian carriers to retain aircraft they had leased before the invasion, including Boeing, Airbus and Embraer jets.
Re-registering those aircraft in Russia also raised a question about who was responsible for their safety. Under the Chicago Convention, a civil aircraft can be registered in only one country at a time. The International Civil Aviation Organization challenged Russia’s decision to register aircraft that were still on another country’s books, leaving two national authorities responsible for oversight of the same planes.
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How Russian airlines keep Western jets flying
The wartime rules allowed airlines to keep their fleets. They still had to find parts. A Reuters analysis of customs records found that at least $1.2 billion in aircraft components reached Russian airlines and their maintenance units between May 2022 and June 2023. Intermediaries in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, China and Central Asia helped supply them.
Moscow has also sought aircraft that come with crews and maintenance included. In September, Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin said Russia had approached Vietnam about such a deal, known in the industry as a wet lease. Nikitin said Vietnamese officials were reviewing the proposal. Moscow had previously approached several other countries, including Ethiopia, whose government said it could not order its national airline to lease aircraft to Russian carriers.
Russia’s replacement airliner is still in testing
One aircraft Moscow is counting on is the Yakovlev MC-21, a Russian passenger jet redesigned to replace imported components. On Aug. 3, the first production-standard MC-21-310 in that configuration made its maiden flight from the Irkutsk aircraft plant, according to state-owned manufacturer Rostec.
Test pilots spent one hour and 23 minutes in the air, reaching 6,000 meters (about 19,700 feet) and an indicated airspeed of 600 kilometers per hour (373 mph). They tested how the jet handled and how its Russian-built systems performed. Certification work was still underway as the manufacturer prepared its first batch of 18 aircraft.
The ministry’s proposal gives a measure of how long Moscow expects to need the existing fleet. More than four years after Russia told its airlines they could keep the leased jets, it is asking for another two years of operating rights while manufacturers work to get their replacements into passenger service.
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