Western sanctions harm Russian aviation with technical issues, emergency landings, and pricey tickets

An article that was published in Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs, discusses the negative impact of Western sanctions on the Russian aviation industry.

The Western sanctions imposed after the aggressive invasion into Ukraine seems to hurt the Russian aviation industry. According to Novaya Gazeta, there are more technical problems and emergency landings due to an acute lack of parts, maintenance and technical support. Passengers fly more and more unsafely while ticket prices have increased between 15 and 30 percent.

Russian airlines usually lease Boeing or Airbus aircraft, which have been illegally acquired after a decision of the Russian government. Due to Western sanctions, both airline manufacturers have stopped supplying spare parts and no longer provide technical support for more complex repairs of, for example, engines or a landing gear.

This also has an effect on aircraft that are made in Russia (Sukhoi, Tupolev or the Russian development MS-21), which also contain many Western components. For example, fuel filters are no longer available, the article states that airlines simply wash and reuse the old ones. Until it goes wrong.

Some spare parts – such as wheels and brakes – can still be found, but do not arrive in due time and are considerably more expensive. Coming from China, Turkey and Iran, among others, spare parts cost three to four times the regular price and take three to four times longer than before the Western sanctions.

However, engine parts cannot be imported, which means that airlines themselves have to be creative and carry out expensive repairs. For example, aircraft are taken out of circulation (cannibalized) to be used for spare parts. The result is that aircraft that do fly are increasingly unsafe.

“Since the start of this year, we have received more frequent reports of malfunctions, cabin depressurizations and emergency landings in Airbusses or Boeings operated by Russian airlines. These include Aeroflot, Rossiya, Pobeda, Azur, UTair and others,” said Novaja Gazeta.

Source: ?????? ?? ???????? – ?????? ???? ?? ?????????? ????? ?????, ? ?????? ?????? ??????? (Novaya Gazeta)