Russian planes break down faster than they can be repaired: in the last month alone, 8 Aeroflot planes broke down. Those that are still able to fly are either delayed for dozens of hours at airports, as happened with the flight from Novosibirsk to Bangkok, or receive various errors already in the air, about the failure of the landing gear or flaps, hydraulic systems or engines.
After the beginning of the disastrous for Russia full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the “analog” passenger air fleet of the Russian Federation is on the verge of disaster.
Immediately after the beginning of the Russian intervention, in February and March 2022, Russian air carriers: Aeroflot, Azur Air, Utair and other airlines were prohibited from flying in the airspace of many countries. Russian airlines were added to the list of air carriers banned in the European Union for security reasons, as the planes were re-registered in Russia and no longer had foreign certificates of airworthiness. A series of sanctions and bans, especially the prohibition of the US Department of Commerce, from maintaining aircraft and selling spare parts for “Boeing” and “Airbus” operated by Russian airlines, led to a decrease in the quality and quantity of passenger air transportation:
- In September 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) marked Russia in red, along with Liberia and Bhutan, indicating an extremely high risk to flight safety.
- Until 2022, the number of Russian air transports on international routes reached 30% and 70% on domestic routes, in 2022 the dynamics changed: only 10% of air transports extended beyond the borders of the Russian Federation, and the number of transported passengers decreased significantly.
This is only the initial stage of the collapse of the Russian air fleet. During 2022, according to various sources, the number of operational aircraft is from 991 to 900 units, by 2023, the number of operational aircraft was already 800 aircraft. About 70% of these planes are Western: 249 Airbus planes and 277 Boeing planes. They perform 95% of all passenger transportation on the territory of the Russian Federation. Only about 130 aircraft, named “Superjet”, from the entire Russian air fleet are domestic, manufactured by the state company of the Russian Federation “Obedinennaya Aviastroitelnaya Corporation”. Other Russian-made aircraft – “Tupolev”, “Yakovlev” and “Ilyushin” – are rarely used for commercial flights
The lack of high-quality maintenance and original spare parts, together with the intensive domestic operation of aircraft in just one year, led sanctioned Russia to the trough of begging and the domestic “collective farm”: “Aeroflot” began to purchase parts in the UAE and China, and the Ministry of Transport allowed foreign aircraft to be repaired in any way, even with the use of non-original parts. Due to the lack of spare parts, at least 50 planes of the largest carrier Aeroflot cannot continue to fly. Cases of aviation donations have increased, which only temporarily helps the dwindling number of planes to stay “in the air”.
The most problematic areas of Russian aviation remain engines and landing gear, as well as hydraulic systems, flaps and software.
In January of last year alone, 185 air accidents were recorded, most of which occurred with the Russian-made Superjet short-haul aircraft. In the first 9 months of 2023, 150 cases of aircraft technical malfunctions were documented in the Russian Federation, and the further the situation with passenger transportation, the worse it will become: even Western planes will not withstand Russian operation.
However, the Russian authorities, continuing to create a picture for their own society, draw new programmes for the development of the aviation industry until 2030.
Let them not forget to add the operative exercises of the “carpet” operation and the construction of airports in Siberia.
Today, the flight from Moscow to the strategically important cities of the Far East: Vladivostok, Magadan, and Khabarovsk lasts from 8 to 11:30. Alternative ways of communication are railway transport and motor vehicles: thanks to them, passengers will be able to reach the cities of the Far East, except for Magadan, which does not have a railway connection, in just seven days of continuous travel. Taking into account the excessive exploitation of railways for military purposes, the Russian Far East: Khabarovsk, Kamchatka Krai, Yakutia, Magadan and Sakhalin Oblasts may find themselves isolated with overloaded and complicated communication routes with the metropolis – Moscow.
Svyatoslav Syrotyuk
