LONDON – Russian airline Aeroflot said on Saturday it would halt flights abroad as the country’s aviation authorities imposed limits on the number of planes that could fly outside its borders, deepening Russia’s isolation from the global air transport system.
PJSC Aeroflot-Russian Airlines announced that it is suspending almost all international flights in response to government orders. The airline said it would continue flying to Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus, which maintained close ties with Russia throughout the conflict and was used as a staging area for Russian troops. About a quarter of the airline’s 3.5 million passengers in January were on international flights.
The action by Russia’s largest airline comes shortly after the country’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, issued a directive that effectively blocks more than half of the aircraft in Russian fleets from flying most international routes. It is scheduled to take effect on Sunday.
The measure cancels most of the international flights that Russian airlines were able to serve after Western countries blocked their airspace to those carriers in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This recommendation is due to the high risk of detention or arrest of aircraft of Russian airlines abroad,” the Federal Air Transport Agency said in a statement. Domestic flights will continue without restrictions.
According to the agency, the government’s actions do not affect Russian airlines that operate aircraft registered abroad or in Russia to places where there is no risk of their confiscation. Domestic flights are not affected.
Russia’s second-largest air carrier, S7 Airlines, said on Friday that it was halting all international flights from March 5.
Airlines are grappling with the effects of the sanctions, which have largely cut Russia off from the global financial system, and are taking steps more directly to target the country’s aviation sector. The European Union has given aircraft leasing companies until March 28 to terminate contracts with Russian airlines. This forces firms, including the world’s largest landlord AerCap Holdings NV, to terminate agreements with Russian operators.
The Russian commercial aircraft fleet is heavily dependent on leasing agreements. According to aviation data specialist Cirium, Russian operators lease 515 aircraft from sanctions-hit foreign leasing companies out of 861 aircraft in service. The Russian state agency’s decree adds to fears by some lessors and insurers that attempts to seize aircraft will become even more difficult.
At least some leasing companies expected Russia to take steps to keep the planes and sought to preempt it in an attempt to get them back into possession quickly, according to senior industry leaders. There have been only a few successful attempts to reclaim the property. One example is the Boeing Co. 737-800, predecessor of the MAX model, operated by Aeroflot’s Pobeda discount division. The plane was confiscated over the weekend at Istanbul Airport after the plane’s owner tracked the plane’s movement and was able to persuade the country’s authorities to stop the plane from taking off, according to a person familiar with the confiscation.
According to Phil Seymour, president of consulting firm IBA Group, the financial burden of Russian carriers not returning their planes will mostly fall on the leasing company’s insurers, who are likely to have to pay the full cost of the planes. According to an analysis by London-based consulting firm Ishka, the market value of foreign aircraft currently operated by Russian airlines is around $12 billion.
Russia’s aviation sector has been hit hard in response to the country’s military attack on its neighbor. In addition to airspace bans imposed by the US, EU, Canada and other countries, aircraft manufacturers and maintenance firms are prohibited from supplying new aircraft and spare parts needed to keep existing fleets flying.
Companies, including Texas-based Saber Corp. and Spain’s Amadeus IT Group SA, which provide the systems used to distribute fares to the public and travel agencies, said they would stop supporting Aeroflot in their systems. The EU and the UK have instructed insurance companies to withdraw coverage from Russian airlines. Some insurers have already notified customers of the cancellation of their policies, which are required to fly under international regulations.
“Due to the unfriendly decisions of a number of foreign governments regarding the civil aviation of the Russian Federation, Russian airlines and passengers have become an instrument and hostages of the political struggle,” the Rosaviatsia said in a statement.
Restrictions on flights of Russian airlines abroad leave Russians with several flight options. Airlines from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar and Serbia are among the few that still fly regularly to Russia.
Doug Cameron contributed to this article.