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Russia’s Aircraft Need Maintenance They Can No Longer Get

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Russia has limited access to parts, software and technical skills needed to carry out critical maintenance due on hundreds of commercial jets, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, raising safety concerns among industry executives and regulators.

In the days after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many Western countries closed airspace to Russian jets. The U.S. and Europe also slapped the country with a series of sanctions and export controls that have blocked parts, services and other technology from being provided to the country’s fleet of commercial airliners.

Western officials said they specifically targeted the sector—a key pillar of Russia’s economy that is profoundly dependent on Western assistance. But Russian airlines have kept flying, carrying some 95 million passengers last year amid buoyant demand for domestic flights.

Boeing Co.

BA -1.84%

and

Airbus SE

planes comprise about 77% of Russia’s fleet of 696 in-service aircraft. In December, Russia’s central bank said Western aircraft carry 97% of all Russian passenger traffic.

These modern jets typically need frequent software updates, access to troubleshooting and maintenance guides, skilled engineers and, crucially, spare parts to replace aging or defunct components.

For more than a year, however, U.S. and European sanctions have cut off those Russian carriers from any contact with plane makers, maintenance partners and many of the suppliers for the planes’ key parts, from engines to landing gear.

Hundreds of Russian jets have reached maintenance milestones without access to any of this, according to a Journal analysis of Russia’s fleet of passenger planes. Hundreds more planes are due this year for this regularly scheduled maintenance.

Passengers at an airport in Beijing check in for a flight on Russia’s flagship international carrier Aeroflot.



Photo:

Artyom Ivanov/TASS/ZUMA PRESS

The checks must be performed at certain times based on hours flown or number of takeoffs and landings. They can involve weeks or months of down time.

Without properly conducted checks, “it’s going to be harder to maintain aircraft and keep them flying,” said Karl Steeves, chief executive of aviation-maintenance software specialist TrustFlight Ltd.

These major maintenance checks come in two types. A “C” check is supposed to happen roughly every two years. The maintenance pulls an aircraft out of service for about three to four weeks while the structure of the plane is assessed.

A more extensive “D” check involves stripping almost the entire airplane apart and assessing for damage and corrosion. It can take months and is required every six to 10 years, depending on flight hours and the age of the aircraft. 

Last year, about 170 Russian jets were due their C checks, according to the Journal analysis, which used Airbus and Boeing service schedule timelines and matched them with the delivery dates of planes currently flying for Russian carriers. Some 55 jets were due D checks.

Another 159 Airbus and Boeing jets are scheduled to undergo C checks this year. A further 85 are due their more-intensive D checks in 2023.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

What does the future hold for Russia’s aviation industry in the face of Western sanctions? Join the conversation below.

Because of sanctions, Russia’s aviation industry has been left to perform those critical checks, which in recent decades have largely been outsourced to foreign companies. Russian maintenance crews are depleting stockpiles of spare parts. They lack access to new ones, as well as input from the manufacturers.

Russian airlines have also lost direct access to critical online manuals and troubleshooting documentation that Boeing and Airbus provide to customers on a subscription basis. These help airlines manage unexpected damage or properly repair aircraft out of the scheduled maintenance checks, said Mr. Steeves at TrustFlight.

Aircraft systems are regularly updated with software tweaks and improvements to which Russia has also lost direct access.

In a December interview with Russian business newspaper RBK, the chief executive of Aeroflot-Russian Airlines PJSC, the country’s flagship international carrier, said the company had enough spare parts to last for the next two to six months. CEO

Sergei Alexandrovsky

said that air safety remains top priority and that the airline will continue to follow safety standards.

“We have started to hear about situations where there are missing parts, components or an inability to keep some of the planes in flight,” Airbus CEO

Guillaume Faury

told reporters in February. “We are slightly concerned about the way the planes are operating.”

A spokesman for Airbus said the company is complying with both U.S. export-control regulations and European Union sanctions on the provision of components, data and support to Russian carriers. “There is no legal way that genuine aircraft parts, documentation and services can get to Russian carriers,” he said.

The restrictions also apply to the provision of equipment and services to non-Russian entities that intend to forward those parts to Russian partners, Airbus said. Any supplier, airline or maintenance firm that provides Airbus parts to Russian carriers would be struck from Airbus’s customer list.

A spokesman for Boeing said the company, in early 2022, suspended providing parts, maintenance and technical support to both airline customers and maintenance providers in Russia.

An Aeroflot plane landing in Istanbul, in December. In January, the U.S. leaned on Turkey to end Russian flights with American-made planes.



Photo:

UMIT BEKTAS/REUTERS

Russia hasn’t disclosed air-safety statistics for 2022. The country’s press hasn’t reported any fatalities from commercial jet accidents in the last 12 months. The Russian Ministry of Transport and Aeroflot didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The lack of access to maintenance resources has in part led the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, to downgrade Russia’s safety assessment. It has categorized the country’s aviation sector as posing a “significant safety concern” due to its failure to meet international safety and oversight standards.

Russian airlines also don’t have access to many of the foreign airports where they might have been able to fly to for the checks before the war. Specialists in other countries, including China, had previously conducted some of the checks for Russian airlines. They have since balked for fear of being blocked from doing business with the world’s two biggest aircraft makers.

Russian carriers have been looking for strategies to secure maintenance for at least some of their aircraft, including turning to third-party providers in places such as Iran and Turkey to provide spare parts and services.

In January, the White House warned officials in Turkey that Turkish individuals are at risk of jail time, fines, loss of export privileges and other measures if they provide services such as refueling and spare parts to U.S.-made planes flying to and from Russia and Belarus.

“Russian aviation won’t disappear. But it has to go through hard times,” said Anastasia Dagaeva, an independent Russian aviation analyst. “What’s next? The disconnection from the global supply of components, IT, the exchange of experience, the transfer of knowledge and from industry communication.”

Write to Benjamin Katz at [email protected] and Georgi Kantchev at [email protected]

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8


Russia has limited access to parts, software and technical skills needed to carry out critical maintenance due on hundreds of commercial jets, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, raising safety concerns among industry executives and regulators.

In the days after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many Western countries closed airspace to Russian jets. The U.S. and Europe also slapped the country with a series of sanctions and export controls that have blocked parts, services and other technology from being provided to the country’s fleet of commercial airliners.

Western officials said they specifically targeted the sector—a key pillar of Russia’s economy that is profoundly dependent on Western assistance. But Russian airlines have kept flying, carrying some 95 million passengers last year amid buoyant demand for domestic flights.

Boeing Co.

BA -1.84%

and

Airbus SE

planes comprise about 77% of Russia’s fleet of 696 in-service aircraft. In December, Russia’s central bank said Western aircraft carry 97% of all Russian passenger traffic.

These modern jets typically need frequent software updates, access to troubleshooting and maintenance guides, skilled engineers and, crucially, spare parts to replace aging or defunct components.

For more than a year, however, U.S. and European sanctions have cut off those Russian carriers from any contact with plane makers, maintenance partners and many of the suppliers for the planes’ key parts, from engines to landing gear.

Hundreds of Russian jets have reached maintenance milestones without access to any of this, according to a Journal analysis of Russia’s fleet of passenger planes. Hundreds more planes are due this year for this regularly scheduled maintenance.

Passengers at an airport in Beijing check in for a flight on Russia’s flagship international carrier Aeroflot.



Photo:

Artyom Ivanov/TASS/ZUMA PRESS

The checks must be performed at certain times based on hours flown or number of takeoffs and landings. They can involve weeks or months of down time.

Without properly conducted checks, “it’s going to be harder to maintain aircraft and keep them flying,” said Karl Steeves, chief executive of aviation-maintenance software specialist TrustFlight Ltd.

These major maintenance checks come in two types. A “C” check is supposed to happen roughly every two years. The maintenance pulls an aircraft out of service for about three to four weeks while the structure of the plane is assessed.

A more extensive “D” check involves stripping almost the entire airplane apart and assessing for damage and corrosion. It can take months and is required every six to 10 years, depending on flight hours and the age of the aircraft. 

Last year, about 170 Russian jets were due their C checks, according to the Journal analysis, which used Airbus and Boeing service schedule timelines and matched them with the delivery dates of planes currently flying for Russian carriers. Some 55 jets were due D checks.

Another 159 Airbus and Boeing jets are scheduled to undergo C checks this year. A further 85 are due their more-intensive D checks in 2023.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

What does the future hold for Russia’s aviation industry in the face of Western sanctions? Join the conversation below.

Because of sanctions, Russia’s aviation industry has been left to perform those critical checks, which in recent decades have largely been outsourced to foreign companies. Russian maintenance crews are depleting stockpiles of spare parts. They lack access to new ones, as well as input from the manufacturers.

Russian airlines have also lost direct access to critical online manuals and troubleshooting documentation that Boeing and Airbus provide to customers on a subscription basis. These help airlines manage unexpected damage or properly repair aircraft out of the scheduled maintenance checks, said Mr. Steeves at TrustFlight.

Aircraft systems are regularly updated with software tweaks and improvements to which Russia has also lost direct access.

In a December interview with Russian business newspaper RBK, the chief executive of Aeroflot-Russian Airlines PJSC, the country’s flagship international carrier, said the company had enough spare parts to last for the next two to six months. CEO

Sergei Alexandrovsky

said that air safety remains top priority and that the airline will continue to follow safety standards.

“We have started to hear about situations where there are missing parts, components or an inability to keep some of the planes in flight,” Airbus CEO

Guillaume Faury

told reporters in February. “We are slightly concerned about the way the planes are operating.”

A spokesman for Airbus said the company is complying with both U.S. export-control regulations and European Union sanctions on the provision of components, data and support to Russian carriers. “There is no legal way that genuine aircraft parts, documentation and services can get to Russian carriers,” he said.

The restrictions also apply to the provision of equipment and services to non-Russian entities that intend to forward those parts to Russian partners, Airbus said. Any supplier, airline or maintenance firm that provides Airbus parts to Russian carriers would be struck from Airbus’s customer list.

A spokesman for Boeing said the company, in early 2022, suspended providing parts, maintenance and technical support to both airline customers and maintenance providers in Russia.

An Aeroflot plane landing in Istanbul, in December. In January, the U.S. leaned on Turkey to end Russian flights with American-made planes.



Photo:

UMIT BEKTAS/REUTERS

Russia hasn’t disclosed air-safety statistics for 2022. The country’s press hasn’t reported any fatalities from commercial jet accidents in the last 12 months. The Russian Ministry of Transport and Aeroflot didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The lack of access to maintenance resources has in part led the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, to downgrade Russia’s safety assessment. It has categorized the country’s aviation sector as posing a “significant safety concern” due to its failure to meet international safety and oversight standards.

Russian airlines also don’t have access to many of the foreign airports where they might have been able to fly to for the checks before the war. Specialists in other countries, including China, had previously conducted some of the checks for Russian airlines. They have since balked for fear of being blocked from doing business with the world’s two biggest aircraft makers.

Russian carriers have been looking for strategies to secure maintenance for at least some of their aircraft, including turning to third-party providers in places such as Iran and Turkey to provide spare parts and services.

In January, the White House warned officials in Turkey that Turkish individuals are at risk of jail time, fines, loss of export privileges and other measures if they provide services such as refueling and spare parts to U.S.-made planes flying to and from Russia and Belarus.

“Russian aviation won’t disappear. But it has to go through hard times,” said Anastasia Dagaeva, an independent Russian aviation analyst. “What’s next? The disconnection from the global supply of components, IT, the exchange of experience, the transfer of knowledge and from industry communication.”

Write to Benjamin Katz at [email protected] and Georgi Kantchev at [email protected]

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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