Stolen Russian Airliners
The RA- aircraft have actually retained (increased?) their value in Ruzzia, they just happen to be worthless elsewhere. Look at the heartache over the Tundra Airbus ("Fly with us; we're outstanding in our field").
Dollars and euros are also worthless, but only on Perseus Omicron 4.
More problems for Russian airlines.
S7 Airlines (S7, Novosibirsk) is having to downsize its employee and flight-crew headcount in Moscow due to frequency cuts and route changes forced on it by a fifth of its aircraft being grounded over problems with their A320/1neo fleet's Pratt & Whitney engines, Kommersant reported. The engine issues are exacerbated because international sanctions against Russia make scheduling repairs on them impossible.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Russia’s biggest privately-owned airline by fleet size operates a total of 99 aircraft. Of these, 25 are currently inactive including fifteen A320neo and A321neo jets with PW1000G engines: seven of its thirty-one A320-200Ns, all four of its A321-200Ns, and all four of its A321-200NX.
S7 Airlines had already said in October that its winter schedules would be cut by 10-15% compared to the previous year to account for the grounded Airbus narrowbodies. In December, S7 Group’s chairman of the board, Evgeny Elin, warned of a looming engine crunch in Russia.
Sources told Kommersant that the decision to cut staff numbers in Moscow is also linked to S7’s plans to expand its presence in Russia’s regions as well as bolster its main hub at Novosibirsk, where there is less competition with other major players. S7 Group has its headquarters in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast, in southwestern Russia. Some employees have been offered the opportunity to work at the company’s offices there or in Irkutsk, while pilots have reportedly been offered the chance to retrain with different aircraft types.
S7 Airlines operates 22.7% of its total capacity at Novosibirsk and 23.7% at Moscow Domodedovofor the week starting January 22, ch-aviation capacities data shows. Third on the list is Irkutsk International with 6.9%.
Aeroflot and its budget subsidiary Pobeda have said they are ready to hire laid-off flight attendants from S7. However, aviation insiders who Kommersant interviewed speculated that workforce reductions at S7 may precede layoffs at other Russian carriers as traffic volumes are languishing 18% below pre-pandemic levels. But the sanctions heaped on Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have hurt S7, with its comparatively modern fleet, the most due to the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G engine problems, they added.
One source at the airline said that the group aims to cut about 13% of the staff at the Moscow office (other estimates suggest it will be closer to 15%), equivalent to around 7% of the total number of employees. A source said that S7 is undergoing a reorganisation and merger of several legal entities, optimising the staffing tables, but that the company will be focusing more on developing its technical and engineering divisions with plans to increase the number of personnel in these units.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Russia’s biggest privately-owned airline by fleet size operates a total of 99 aircraft. Of these, 25 are currently inactive including fifteen A320neo and A321neo jets with PW1000G engines: seven of its thirty-one A320-200Ns, all four of its A321-200Ns, and all four of its A321-200NX.
S7 Airlines had already said in October that its winter schedules would be cut by 10-15% compared to the previous year to account for the grounded Airbus narrowbodies. In December, S7 Group’s chairman of the board, Evgeny Elin, warned of a looming engine crunch in Russia.
Sources told Kommersant that the decision to cut staff numbers in Moscow is also linked to S7’s plans to expand its presence in Russia’s regions as well as bolster its main hub at Novosibirsk, where there is less competition with other major players. S7 Group has its headquarters in Ob, Novosibirsk Oblast, in southwestern Russia. Some employees have been offered the opportunity to work at the company’s offices there or in Irkutsk, while pilots have reportedly been offered the chance to retrain with different aircraft types.
S7 Airlines operates 22.7% of its total capacity at Novosibirsk and 23.7% at Moscow Domodedovofor the week starting January 22, ch-aviation capacities data shows. Third on the list is Irkutsk International with 6.9%.
Aeroflot and its budget subsidiary Pobeda have said they are ready to hire laid-off flight attendants from S7. However, aviation insiders who Kommersant interviewed speculated that workforce reductions at S7 may precede layoffs at other Russian carriers as traffic volumes are languishing 18% below pre-pandemic levels. But the sanctions heaped on Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have hurt S7, with its comparatively modern fleet, the most due to the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G engine problems, they added.
One source at the airline said that the group aims to cut about 13% of the staff at the Moscow office (other estimates suggest it will be closer to 15%), equivalent to around 7% of the total number of employees. A source said that S7 is undergoing a reorganisation and merger of several legal entities, optimising the staffing tables, but that the company will be focusing more on developing its technical and engineering divisions with plans to increase the number of personnel in these units.
Aren't the Chinese making aftermarket parts for western aircraft, or is that kind of practice below them?
Reports of three engine failures on S7 airline during the last three days:
"The third S7 airline plane in the last three days has suffered an engine failure during a flight. Today, an Airbus A-320 airplane flying from Omsk landed at Domodedovo airport with a faulty right engine, the Aviaincident channel reported. There were more than 170 people on board. The plane has been grounded from flights. On January 27, two more S7 planes failed to take off due to engine malfunction. 160 people were supposed to fly from Ulan-Ude to Moscow, but the Boeing 737-800 never got off the ground: the pilots were forced to abort the takeoff because of the left and right engine failure. Such a malfunction can lead to the destruction of the aircraft right in flight. For the same reason, the S7 flight from Moscow to Antalya, Turkey, did not take place. In the morning of January 27 at Domodedovo airport, Boeing 737-800 aborted takeoff due to the failure of one of the engines. "
Last edited by StephanKoelliker; 29th Jan 2024 at 18:21. Reason: Link made visible
It got chopped up.
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It looks like Russia is buying out those aircraft it "stole" from the lessors.
More
https://simpleflying.com/russia-spen...estern-planes/
Russian airlines have reached settlements with Western-based aircraft leasing companies for over 100 aircraft.
Meanwhile, NLK-Finance, a subsidiary of the state-owned insurance company NSK, has been buying out aircraft from Western-based lessors. For example, in December 2023, GA Telesis announced that the firm received a cash insurance settlement for two Airbus single-aisle aircraft leased to Rossiya, a member of the Aeroflot group. As a result of the settlement, GA Telesis dropped its claims against NSK, Aeroflot, and Rossiya, with the settlements and the transfer of the funds being approved by the United States (US) Department of the Treasury (USDT).
Summary
- Russian National Wealth Fund allocates funds for aviation firms NLK-Finance and Avia Capital Services to finance aircraft purchases.
- NLK-Finance buys aircraft from Western lessors, settling claims with them over re-registered aircraft.
- Sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have left the local aviation industry without Western support, including from lessors and manufacturers.
Buying aircraft from Western lessors
NLK-Finance received RUB107.7 billion ($1.2 billion), while the FNB also allocated RUB34.4 billion ($385.6 million) to Avia Capital Services. MinFin said the latter received funds to finance the infrastructure project ‘Preferential Leasing Project for Domestic Aircraft’.Meanwhile, NLK-Finance, a subsidiary of the state-owned insurance company NSK, has been buying out aircraft from Western-based lessors. For example, in December 2023, GA Telesis announced that the firm received a cash insurance settlement for two Airbus single-aisle aircraft leased to Rossiya, a member of the Aeroflot group. As a result of the settlement, GA Telesis dropped its claims against NSK, Aeroflot, and Rossiya, with the settlements and the transfer of the funds being approved by the United States (US) Department of the Treasury (USDT).
https://simpleflying.com/russia-spen...estern-planes/
You should remember that Russian airlines are still flying to most parts of Asia so there must be some safety records to show authorities.
Thread Starter
Nobody would lease aircraft to Russia after this mass theft. Maybe they think that buying these aircraft will improve their credit rating, or maybe improve their chances of buying spares which may cost $$$millions. It's worth a try.
This might be more of a gambit to help stay in ICAO.
It's not a safety record, it's an issue with parts traceability and repair. Once those records are lost or faked the aircraft is worthless for western sale. This sort of reminds me of Vijay Mallya and Kingfisher Airline; they stripped leased planes for spare parts and when they were 'returned' to the lessor they were useless scrap.
https://time.com/6256488/russia-unit...deserved-seat/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2022/...urity-council/
While I don't expect anything to come of it, it is one of those things hanging in the background that might become relevant.