The bulk of the Russian civil air fleet consists of Boeing and Airbus aircraft. The sanctions prevent the delivery of spare parts. Accordingly, Russian airlines want to adapt the maintenance processes.
According to a media report, in view of the Western sanctions against Russia’s aviation industry, Russian airlines want to service their stocks of Boeing and Airbus aircraft less frequently. The airlines are demanding an exemption from air traffic control authorities from certain procedures that are mandatory according to the standard protocol but are currently not feasible, the daily Izvestia reported, citing Marat Tereshchenko, adviser to Aeroflot’s technical director. This also includes the “extraordinary extension of intervals for technical maintenance”. A decision by the authorities is still pending.
After the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine began about a year ago, the West imposed sanctions on the Russian aviation industry, among other things. Russian airlines are no longer allowed to fly in many countries. Western companies are banned from supplying spare parts or performing any kind of repairs on Russian airlines’ planes. In Russia there are still around 600 aircraft from western production (Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, ATR). That is more than two-thirds of the entire civilian air fleet.
“To this day, problems with access to maintenance documentation, technologies and equipment for repairing parts continue,” said Tereshchenko. It is also problematic to meet the airworthiness guidelines specified by foreign aviation authorities. According to him, the repair times for western components on aircraft have multiplied as a result of the sanctions. Because of these problems, not only the test intervals should be extended, but also “alternative” test procedures for the safety inspection of aircraft should be allowed, the industry demands.
