Russia removes its aircraft from sanctions

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russian airlines have managed to remove more than half of the aircraft remaining in the country from sanctions. Currently, 365 out of 665 aircraft have been excluded from foreign registers, allowing them to resume international flights.

Progress in resolving the issue

According to calculations by Russian media, taking into account the aircraft removed from dual registration and domestic Sukhoi Superjet 100s, more than 500 airliners can now be used on international routes.

Before the war began, most foreign-made aircraft operated by Russian airlines were registered in Bermuda or Ireland. However, in 2022, these countries suspended the airworthiness certificates for such aircraft in response to sanctions against Russia. This forced carriers to begin the process of transferring the aircraft to the Russian register, as dual registration is prohibited by international aviation rules.

Scale of the problem: Rosaviatsiya data

In March 2022, 745 Russian aircraft were listed in the Bermuda register, with a further 36 registered in Ireland. Sanctions led to the loss of access to approximately 80 aircraft. However, the vast majority — 665 aircraft — remained under dual registration.

Process leaders: Aeroflot and other airlines

Aeroflot is demonstrating the most significant progress in resolving the issue. The company has managed to remove 192 out of 271 aircraft from its fleet from foreign registers. More than 250 billion rubles out of the 300 billion allocated from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) has been spent on this process.

In addition, the re-registration affected 45 out of 103 aircraft of S7 Airlines and 19 aircraft of Ural Airlines. The latter has 33 aircraft remaining under dual registration. Meanwhile, Utair has managed to transfer 32 out of 56 aircraft to the Russian register, leaving 24 aircraft in the Bermuda register.

State support and legal issues

Sources cited by the publication note that no new tranches of state support for aircraft re-registration are planned at the current stage, although the issue remains on the agenda.

The key problem remains the settlement of ownership rights to the aircraft and the re-registration of leasing contracts. Removing aircraft from foreign registers is only possible with the consent of the lessors.

Resolving these issues will significantly reduce legal claims from foreign leasing companies, which are currently estimated at tens of billions of euros. For example, the High Court of London is considering claims totalling approximately 10 billion euros, related to breaches of contract and aircraft insurance terms.