General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRussian sanctions. Some complications that are going to really hurt....
Leased commercial aircraft are included in current sanctions, along with repair services and spares. Airlines, even Russian airlines, don't actually own many of the aircraft they fly. How many? Depends on the airline. They lease them from a number of leasing companies. It's the lessors who actual own the aircraft. Here's a good take on the issue from a Youtuber I follow...
Financial nightmare if Russian airlines "nationalize" the leased fleet. Chatter is, the Russians may take a "you want it? come get it." line on leased aircraft. Ouch! Needless to say, stocks for aircraft lessors were hammered last week.
https://simpleflying.com/what-happen-western-aircraft-leased-russian-carriers/
OK, how are they going to service and repair them as sanctions drag on, possibly for months, maybe years? An issue near to my heart professionally. This is the potentially deviating portion, since many critical components are complex, difficult to acquire outside of western suppliers, very difficult to reverse engineer and have limited lifespans.
Many components necessary for "build your own" also come from western suppliers. It's a catch 22. You can't just slap any un certified, "sorta fits" component into an aircraft and expect it to work, much less work safely. It's not like running oversized tires on your car, have a problem, pull over in the breakdown lane. Commercial jets often crash in such circumstances and everyone dies.
These are incredibly complex pieces of equipment, requiring a global supply chain to maintain, much less ensure safety. What a mess. And for what? A new "Russian Empire"? Putin is such a maroon. An ignoramus. A boon for Russian rail travel perhaps. Ugh.
AlexSFCA
(6,137 posts)PortTack
(32,606 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)paleotn
(17,781 posts)The Russian airlines don't own them, they lease them from companies in the US, EU and elsewhere. Nothing wrong with the planes themselves right now anyway. Not sure what the Russian lease fleet is made of, but I am sure they're mostly the same narrow and wide bodies United, Delta, BA, Aer Lingus and everyone else flies. Aeroflot does their major maintenance in Germany, not Russia. Well, they did anyway. Not anymore, comrades. 6 months from now when they're way late on maintenance by certified maintainers? I wouldn't let me worst enemy fly on one of them.