Irish lessors, which own more than 60% of the world’s fleet of leased aircraft, terminated all business relationships with Russian airlines before the EU-imposed deadline.
The Brussels council gave the lessors until today (March 28) to settle existing leases in Russia under sanctions imposed following the Moscow government’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Events in Russia are unprecedented and continue to evolve,” says a statement from Aircraft Leasing Ireland (ALI) replicated by the financialpost. ALI brings together leasing companies based in Ireland. It counts among its members the world’s largest companies in the industry: SMBC Aviation, Avolon, Aircastle and AerCap Holdings. “All members of our group have delivered as mandated,” the consortium noted. “The last few weeks have been challenging and we continue to try to recover our aircraft, so far with limited success,” it added.
AerCap said about 5% of its fleet (taking net value as a benchmark) was leased in Russia at the end of last year. In total, 142 of the 515 aircraft that Russian airlines had leased to foreign companies were from that company.
Russia lost 78 aircraft to embargoes
Seventy-eight aircraft operating under Russian registration were seized abroad since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. As reported by Reuters, citing Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev, the Russian government is seeking to deal with the consequences of the sanctions, including reactivating long-stored aircraft.
“We have lost 78 aircraft,” the minister said, adding that these planes were seized abroad and will not operate in the country again. Almost all Boeing and Airbus aircraft used by Russian airlines were registered in Bermuda and Ireland thanks to the tax benefits this brings.
The specialized site ch-aviation has made a compilation indicating where each aircraft is currently located. It is updated as new information becomes available and can be accessed here.
