After months of sanctions that have made critical repair parts difficult to access, aircraft operators are running out of options.
“Don’t misunderstand the Russian capability with aeronautical engineering,” says Kingsley Jones. “They are a very capable nation; they have their own aircraft manufacturing industry and are quite capable of maintaining the aircraft they do.” But as Russian airlines run down their supply of official spare parts, they’re going to be forced to adopt alternative measures. In April and May, Russian authoritiesthat can service planes operating in the country beyond international norms.
Sanctions—alongside the global slowdown caused by Covid-19—have cut a huge chunk out of Russia’s international air traffic, according to consultancy Ascend by Cirium. The number of aircraft it tracked on international flights on June 10 was 179, compared to 493 on January 3, 2020. That’s largely because around 70 percent of Aeroflot’s planes are leased by a company that has called in its aircraft, demanding them back from the Russian carrier, according to Vasigh.
The planes are still flying, but the parts aren’t arriving. So what’s happening? “Most probably, Russian operators will have to cannibalize other planes they have,” says Volodymyr Bilotkach, associate professor of air transport management at Singapore Institute of Technology. That causes its own issues. Right now, the concern is about the safety of aircraft flying in the here and now. But it seems unlikely that Russia will be a pariah state forever.
“All these parts are quite highly controlled,” says Bilotkach. “The manufacturers know which particular spare part is going to be installed on which aircraft. You need proper records of that.” But required paperwork is unlikely to be maintained. “As soon as an aircraft doesn’t have a proper maintenance record, the value of those aircraft drops to zero,” says Vasigh.
None of the experts WIRED spoke to said they’d rush to step onto a plane operating in Russia at the moment. Bilotkach—a Ukrainian national—equated it to taking international-facing Russian airlines that had significantly improved their safety records in the post-Soviet Union back 30 or more years. “Just look it up on Wikipedia,” he says. “They have a separate page for
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Plane mysteriously disappears over RussiaA plane and helicopter are looking for the missing aircraft but Russia's emergency situations ministry said that the search was being 'complicated by poor visibility' caused by fog and low clouds.
Read more »
Cooler and cloudier Wednesday, heating up this weekendA weak system is impacting Western Washington today, bringing light showers, clouds and cooler temperatures. FOX13
Read more »
At least 5 murders in western Washington in about 24 hoursAt least five murders have shaken up communities in western Washington, just between Monday and Tuesday.
Read more »
Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russians launching large-scale offensive in Luhansk regionActor Ben Stiller, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the last five years, is visiting Ukraine to highlight the refugee crisis amid Russia's ongoing war. Read more:
Read more »
A Dead Star Has Been Caught Ripping Apart Its Planetary SystemWhen a star dies, what happens to its planets? Well, if that star is a certain white dwarf 86 light-years away, those planets are currently in the process of being torn apart and eaten by the star, like some grotesque cosmic performance of Kronos dev
Read more »