- Airbus CEO stated that he is concerned about Russian airlines flying without the required maintenance.
- Airbus was unable to provide Russian service due to sanctions against Russia in the wake of the Ukraine war.
- According to OAG, a data provider, Russian air travel has returned to 85% of its pre-pandemic capacity.
The CEO of Airbus has warned of safety concerns over Russian airlines flying without necessary maintenance or spare parts— as sanctions are preventing the French aviation giant from servicing their planes.
Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, stated that “we are concerned about the maintenance conditions as actually the planes fly a lot.” He spoke to the media on Friday after Airbus posted its third quarter results. Airbus confirmed these comments separately in an email to Insider.
Russia lifted all Pandemic-related travel restrictions on July 1, and Russian airlines are operating at about 85% of 2019 capacity this winter season, according to data published on October 25 by OAG, a global travel data provider. That’s even though many countries in the world — such as those in the European Union and Canada — have banned Russian aircraftMost Russian flights fly domestically, as they are restricted to their airspace.
“Because we can’t monitor and support our customers as we do in normal times, because of the sanctions,” Faury said. Faury said that this is causing some safety concerns. “Now, there isn’t much we can do.”
Russia has been sanctioned. Imports into the Country — especially those of aircraft and their spare parts— have collapsed, creating a huge problem for the country, which Tech imports are heavily used.
Moscow has taken steps to counter the sanctions. Rostec, the state-owned tech firm, is telling ReutersIt announced in September that it will produce 1,000 airliners by 2030 with locally made parts. This goal is to decrease dependence on Western technology. According to Reuters, 95% of Russian passenger traffic was carried by planes bought from Western giants Boeing or Airbus before the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Rostec — a conglomerate involved in engineering and defense — has said it aims to substitute imported parts with local ones, but the pain of shortages is already being felt.
Russian state-owned airline AeroflotBecause of supply shortages caused by sanctions, we started taking out spare parts from all working aircraft. Reuters reported in August.
