Russia’s Economic Troubles: While the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to progress, it seems that staying in the Ukrainian mud continues to create heavy economic problems for Russia. After dozens of international companies announced that they were ceasing their work in Russia, it is now facing the exclusion of the aviation world. This, after many countries in Europe, closed their airspace to Russian planes.
The implications of global measures mean that Russian citizens will not be able to fly to Europe and North America in the near future, with even flights to friendly countries, such as China, currently in doubt.
Abulafia, CEO of AeroDynamic Advisory, said that “Russia is the largest country in the world, with a developed economy, but in terms of aviation it will not be better than North Korea.” Abulafia added that “Russian airlines can not fly, they will have to plan A re-route with regard to aircraft that are currently built on Western technologies. ”
The European Air Safety Agency “Eurocontrol” reported that 300 flights of Russian companies a day are canceled due to the exclusion and so are 50 flights a day of European companies flying to airports in Russia. Sash Tosa, an aerospace analyst, spoke to Al-Jazeera and estimated that “it will be increasingly difficult for Russians to fly. One because European airspace is closed to planes from Russia and another because Western support for Russian airlines is ceasing.”
Meanwhile, the giant companies, aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus, the main suppliers of Russian airlines for commercial aircraft, cut off the country from access to spare parts. Boeing even closed the design center it operated in Moscow and temporarily closed its office in Kiev.
Apart from the spare parts problem, most of the commercial aircraft of the Russian airlines are currently owned by leasing companies in the West. Under European sanctions, leasing companies have until March 28 to terminate their contracts with Russian suppliers, including AerCap from Ireland, the world’s largest in the field, which has now demanded its customers in Russia return its aircraft.