Aeroflot 401 Reveals Western Efforts To Paralyze Russian Commercial Aviation

Civil aviation experts of Aerodynamic highlighted the intriguing story of Aeroflot 401 as an important example of an in-depth discussion on Russia, Ukraine and the impact of the ongoing war on global air transport.

Aeroflot Flight 401 had taken off at night, in the pre-dawn hours of March 3, and quickly flew north towards the Mediterranean through Turkish airspace before suddenly retreating to enter the Russian airspace again, and with this maneuver the plane avoided with great difficulty an attempt from its owner to take it back from Russian Airlines that has contractual relations regarding the leasing of a number of aircraft.

The owner’s failed attempt to capture their plane was doomed to fail, and it is only one of the known attempts to recover commercial planes operated by Russia. According to interviews and documents reviewed by experts, the flight was supposed to be normal and unremarkable. Just a flight from Moscow to Cairo, but its return highlighted the Western efforts to sabotage Russian commercial aviation, which would cause an earthquake undermining the foundations of international law.

The flight reveals attempts to gradually separate Russia from the global aviation system, just three hours before the plane escaped and returned to Russian airspace, the Airbus A321neo was over Georgia, a former Soviet republic, on its way to Egypt at an altitude of 34,000 feet, and at that moment the certificate was revoked. Its airworthiness was invalidated by the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority, where it was registered as a charter plane last year, and its owner, SMBC Aviation Capital, had been seeking to restore it and cancel the contractual relationship with Russia based on the sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow since the invasion of its forces for the Ukrainian territory.

The European Union has given a grace period to aircraft leasing companies such as SMBC Aviation Capital, which has the second largest number of aircraft operating in Russia after AerCap, until March 28 to end their leases with Russian airlines under Western sanctions designed to hit key parts of the Russian economy in the framework of severe punishment on Russia on the backdrop of invading Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Transport has prepared a draft government decree proposing measures to mitigate the effects of sanctions on civil aviation in order to ensure “continued operation of foreign-made civil aircraft in Russia and aviation safety.”

The Wall Street Journal said that Russia’s planes will not be able to continue flying without the West, and it is likely that Russia’s increasing isolation from the West will make it look to China for alternative economic partnerships. choice but to double its cooperation with Beijing.

Commercial aviation is facing ruin in Russia because the United States and its allies have banned the sale of planes, spare parts and technical support to the country.

Data from the Cirium website, which specializes in civil aviation, revealed that since the 1990s, Soviet-era planes have been replaced by Boeing and Airbus models, with domestically manufactured aircraft currently making up 17% of the Russian fleet is made up of commercial planes.

Without new spare parts, airlines such as Aeroflot and S7 Airlines will eventually need to stop operating their planes and cancel all of their flights on the long term.