Russian airline grounding much of its fleet due to sanctions

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 07 Jul 2024 by Alex Teddy

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S7 Airlines cannot fly around 38 passenger aircraft due to lack of spare parts and maintenance. Some of the repairs can only be done outside of Russia. S7 is the second biggest airline in the country. Its Airbus A320neo jets are crucial to its fleet. It has 31, and 15 will not be flown until further notice. Aircraft that are grounded deteriorate, although slowly. S7 has older A320s and Boeing 737 planes that can still fly. Passenger numbers are predicted to fall 7% in 2024 after a small fall in 2023. That will mean passenger numbers will be under 100 million a year. The Federal Air Transport Agency told Tass news agency that is its engines, in particular, that cannot be maintained.  Aeroflot is Russia's flag carrier. It and other airlines such as Pobeda and Rossiya had been surprisingly successful in beating sanctions. The loss of the right to fly over US and EU airspace meant that there were fewer international destinations to which such airlines could fly. The airlines grounded older aircraft and cannibalized them for spare parts. But spare parts are running out. Russia has partnered with Iran, which has kept its passenger planes air worthy through decades of sanctions. Russia has also managed to buy Western-made spare parts through friendly third party countries that are willing to break sanctions. But this is becoming harder due to the threat of secondary sanctions. Moreover, a third party supplier will charge a premium because of the risk.