Sanctions: Russian airlines continue to face problems

The High Commercial Court in Colombo upheld an Irish leasing company’s claim against Russian airline Aeroflot, banning an Airbus A330 from leaving the country.

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The aircraft was detained by Sri Lankan authorities at Bandaranaike airport on June 2, hours before its flight to Moscow. The airline accommodated the passengers at a local hotel. According to RBC, Celestial Aviation Trading Limited -the Irish owner of the plane- went to court in Colombo to request that Aeroflot aircraft be banned from leaving the country.

An airport spokesman added that «the Sri Lanka Civil Aviation Authority is discussing with the Attorney General how to resolve the problem with this aircraft.» For his part, the spokesman for the Civil Aviation Agency noted that «Russia is taking an active part in this discussion.»

More than thirty aircraft were returned

After the Western sanctions, leasing companies began to demand the return of their equipment. As these sanctions threatened to paralyze air transport throughout Russia, to protect the industry Putin’s government signed a law allowing the nationalization of aircraft. With this measure, hundreds of foreign aircraft were seized and included in the country’s registry.

Despite this and according to a document from the Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia – to which Reuters had access – Azur Air, iFly, Nordwind, Pegas Fly, and Royal Flight returned in total more than two dozen aircraft to their owners. «The aircraft of some Russian operators are currently at foreign airfields. From there they will be transferred to their owners under the pretext of receiving maintenance,» Rosaviatsia’s letter stated. It did not give details on the reasons for such a decision.

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The specialized site Planespotters reported that a total of 31 aircraft did not return to Russia after February 27. They are distributed in Turkey, Europe, the United States, and the Middle East.