Posts Tagged ‘Sukhoi’

Just How Screwed Are Russian Airlines?

Thursday, March 24th, 2022

The answer is: “Pretty screwed.”

Some takeaways:

  • They’ve lost virtually all their international routes.
  • They’re basically back to Soviet-era route choices.
  • Aeroflot now has only one international flight route…into Belarus.
  • It’s not just flights to and from Russia that are affected. Lots of international flights between Europe and Asia transited now-closed Russian airspace. Flights from Helsinki to Tokyo now take three hours longer.
  • Russia has also been locked out of the Global Distribution System (GDS), which connects just about all global travel providers.
  • Middle East airlines are still flying too and from Russia, mainly Moscow. But without GDS, no one can directly book connecting flights to other Russian cities.
  • A majority of the world’s airliners are leased from an outside company. More than half of Russian airliners are leased from companies outside the country. All those are refusing to continue doing business in Russia.
  • The Cape Town Treaty governs aircraft repossession, and Russia is a signatory to the treaty.
  • But instead of following the terms of the treaty, Russia has just sanctioned the theft of those aircraft.
  • Both Boeing and Airbus have suspended all maintenance support with Russia. Without legitimate spare parts, even Russian-owned aircraft could be banned from flying internationally. And even Russian Sukhoi depends on German Lufthansa Technik for spare parts.
  • One side effect: Without outside airline ability to overfly Russian territory, Anchorage is likely to become an international hub again.
  • One possible winner: Anchorage-based startup Northern Pacific Air.