Russian President Vladimir Putin enacted a law on civil aviation support measures that allow the registration of foreign aircraft incorporated through leasing contracts by Russian companies, as well as the issuance of domestic airworthiness certificates.
The measure involves the confiscation of assets of Western companies worth close to $10 billion, according to lessors and various analysts. Since the conflict with Ukraine began, the race to recover the aircraft between the companies that leased them and the Russian operators have been frantic, culminating in this executive action.
Amendments to the Air Code of the Russian Federation and a series of legislative acts will allow Russian airlines to keep the fleet of foreign aircraft and make it possible to operate aircraft on domestic routes.
The certification of civil aircraft will be carried out with the participation of certification centers and testing laboratories, the requirements of which will be determined by the Russian Ministry of Transport.
The law is aimed at «preserving the fleet of foreign aircraft of Russian Federation operators to ensure uninterrupted operation of activities in the field of civil aviation» in the framework of taking measures to mitigate Western sanctions.
0001202203140013The document also provides for the postponement from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2023 of the deadlines for the certification of technical means to ensure transport safety, which «will allow transport infrastructure entities to reallocate the necessary financial resources for the certification procedure.»
Following the enactment of the law, the TASS agency reported that the Utair airline transferred 50 aircraft to the Russian registry, while the aircraft in its fleet whose airworthiness certificates were suspended by Bermuda remain in «conditional» status.
