Russian airlines will seek to circumvent sanctions on spare parts for their western-built aircraft by sourcing them from friendly Asian countries and by using intermediary companies to buy the necessary equipment, sources within Russian aviation have told news site RIA Novosti.
The technical director of Ural Airlines told the site that the carrier could continue operating all of its fleet without resorting to cannibalization of parts for up to three months.
“We have found some solutions, which I will not talk about now. Nevertheless, there are options, they are quite civilized. The materials that are offered to us pass according to airworthiness standards—both according to European canons and domestic ones,” he told RIA Novosti (translated from Russian).
Ural operates 53 Airbus narrowbody aircraft, including eight Neo types.
Another source, employed in flight safety, told the site that spares sourcing would probably occur via Asian countries, adding that "companies have already been found that are ready to repurchase spare parts for us from Boeing and Airbus."
Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin recently revealed that half of foreign owned aircraft in Russia had been re-registered to the Russian registry.
Foreign lessors have roughly 500 aircraft in Russia, and while 78 are confirmed to have been recovered—mainly from privately owned Russian airlines—the rest are at risk of expropriation under a new law in the country.
Like Airbus and Boeing, Rolls-Royce has stopped providing its Russian customers with new equipment, spares and maintenance services. It said that Russia accounted for 2% of its global revenues. Rival GE is also suspending its aviation services and supply to Russia.
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