MOSCOW, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, are dismantling jetliners to source spare parts they can no longer buy abroad due to Western sanctions, four industry sources said at Reuters.
Moscow last June recommended that airlines, more than three months after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, use spare parts from certain planes to ensure that its foreign-made fleet can continue to fly at least until 2025.
Sanctions imposed on Russia after it sent its troops to Ukraine at the end of February prevent airlines from obtaining spare parts or benefiting from maintenance operations in the West.
At least one Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 and an Airbus A350, both operated by Aeroflot, are currently grounded and being dismantled, said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The Airbus A350 is almost new, the source said.
Most of Russia’s aircraft fleet consists of Western commercial aircraft.
Equipment was taken from a few Aeroflot Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s as the carrier needs more spare parts of these models for its other Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s, the source said.
The Russian Transport Ministry and Aeroflot did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A QUESTION OF TIME
Russian-assembled Sukhoi Superjets are also highly dependent on foreign parts. According to the first source, the engine of a Superjet was disassembled to install it in a similar model so that it continues to fly.
Engines are frequently swapped between aircraft and usually supplied under separate contracts; they are not considered part of the cabin, according to industry experts.
It is “only a matter of time” before Russian-based planes are cannibalized, a Western aviation industry source said.
The new generations of aircraft – A320neo, A350 and Boeing 737 MAX and 787 – present technologies that must be constantly updated.
In the year after the sanctions take effect, it will be “difficult” to keep modern devices in service, even if Russia has a highly developed and competent engineering base, Western sources say.
Nearly 80% of Aeroflot’s fleet is made up of Boeings BA.N and Airbus AIR.PA: at the end of 2021, it had 134 Boeings and 146 Airbuses, as well as nearly 80 Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet-100s, according to the latest data available.
According to Reuters calculations based on data from Flightradar24, some 50 Aeroflot planes – or 15% of its fleet, including planes blocked by sanctions – have not taken off since late July.
DISMANTLING
According to Russia’s aviation industry development plan to 2030, Russia may face greater challenges with Bombardier’s A350 and Q-series as their maintenance is carried out overseas.
The Russian government’s opinion envisages the “partial dismantling of certain parts of the aircraft fleet”, which would allow two-thirds of the aircraft of foreign origin to be kept operational by the end of 2025.
The main challenge will be to keep the engines and sophisticated electronic equipment in working order, said Oleg Panteliev, director of the Aviaport organization.
Aeroflot, once among the world’s top airlines but now dependent on state support, saw its traffic drop 22% in the second quarter of 2022 year on year, according to company data; the sanctions prevented it from serving most Western destinations.
And airlines from Asia and the Middle East are unlikely to be able to supply Russia, the sources say, amid risks of sanctions from Western governments.
“Each part has its own (unique) number and if the documents mention a Russian airline as the end buyer, no one will agree to supply, neither China nor Dubai,” the first source said, adding that Boeing and Airbus must be informed of all parts provided.
(Reuters report; French version Kate Entringer, edited by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)