In spite of economic sanctions enacted by the West, millions of dollars’ worth of aircraft parts made their way into Russia in 2022. The New York Times reported that $14.4 million US-made parts were smuggled into Russia in 2022 citing customs data, of which about $9 million were Boeing parts.
Boeing has distanced itself from the whole affair confirming that it has not done business with Russia since sanctions were imposed.
According to Cirium, Russian airlines are currently operating 467 Boeing and Airbus planes down from 544 one year back. Most of these are on-lease from Western lessors that Russia is refusing to return post the sanctions.
One such illegal scheme came to light with the arrest of Russian business partners Oleg Patsulya and Vasilii Besedin in Arizona. The duo was charged with money laundering and violating US export laws after helping Russia get the aircraft spares since August 2022. They circumvented sanctions by purchasing parts from suppliers and re-selling them to Russian airlines for a profit.
The parts were shipped via countries such as Turkey, China, and the Maldives, though some were also delivered directly from the US and Europe, per the filing.
With these spares Russian airlines were able to manage its fleet. However, despite receiving the black-market spares, there are many Russian aircraft flying with equipment malfunctions. Proekt reported that Aeroflot told its crew members not to report aircraft malfunctions to ensure aircraft remain operational.
Data suggests that Russian airlines have scheduled over 10,000 flights between Russia and Central Asia in May. Russian airlines performed 2,000 flights on Western aircraft with expired parts last year as sanctions acutely hit the country’s air sector, the Kommersant business daily reported, citing federal transportation authorities.
Currently Russia is facing unscheduled inspections at several hundred airlines due to shortage of components and significant delays with deliveries
Russia’s state air traffic management corporation managed 1.4 million flights, including transit and international routes, in 2022.
Experts have signalled alarming warnings that Russian carriers are taking huge safety risks by flying the aircraft with expired parts raising concerns about the airworthiness.
