Bermuda deprives Russian planes of airworthiness leaving thousands of tourists stranded in Thailand
Aeroflot’s fleet includes this Airbus A320-200, for example
What: REUTERS
Many Russian airlines are registered not only in Ireland but also in Bermuda. The aviation authority responsible there has now reacted to the applicable sanctions rules and withdrawn an important license from Russian aircraft. Thousands of tourists are already stuck.
DThe Bermuda Air Traffic Control Authority has declared all Russian aircraft registered in the British Overseas Territory unairworthy.
Because of the international sanctions against Russia, the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) said on Saturday (local time) on its website that it was no longer able to monitor the machines and declare them airworthy. The order is therefore already in force. The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported on it.
A large proportion of the aircraft of many Russian airlines are registered on the Caribbean island, recognizable by the abbreviations VP-B and VP-Q in the license plates of the machines. According to this, numerous aircraft of the state airline Aeroflot and its subsidiaries Rossija and Pobeda as well as of S7 Airlines and UTair are affected.
The de-airworthiness is just one of several effects of Western sanctions against Russia over Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The EU has also ordered that Russia may not receive any passenger planes and spare parts, and the machines may no longer be maintained and insured.
Leasing contracts with Russian airlines have to be terminated by the end of March, so the planes have to be returned. According to information from the Reuters news agency, there are around 400 machines worth around ten billion US dollars.
Because the Russian airlines have not returned the planes, they can now be confiscated. However, some attachments such as in Mexico or Egypt have already failed. This is also likely to hit airlines like Aeroflot, which rely almost exclusively on Airbus and Boeing aircraft, hard.
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“We are very nervous because the children are still very small”
Thailand has not joined international sanctions against Russia. However, due to international restrictions on Russian airlines, many Russian airlines have suspended their flights to and from Thailand.
Among those affected by the cancellation of her Aeroflot return flight to Moscow was 41-year-old Yevgenia Gosorskaya, who arrived in Thailand with her family on February 27. “We are very nervous because the children are still very small and because we don’t have enough money to live here,” said the mother of three. “We want to go to the airport tomorrow, but we don’t know how the situation will be there.”
Gosorskaya said she phoned the airline Aeroflot to ask if her family could be issued replacement flight tickets. “They said they couldn’t do that and hung up.”
Phuket Tourism Board chief Bhummikitti Ruktaengam said some Russian tourists were “difficulty” paying their bills by credit card. According to him, the authorities in Thailand are now considering taking over the Russian payment system Mir.
Russian tourists are an important source of income for Thailand. Since the easing of pandemic regulations in the Southeast Asian country, many Russians have arrived there; According to the Ministry of Sports in Bangkok, 23,000 vacationers from Russia traveled to Bangkok in January alone. In 2019, a total of 1.5 million Russians vacationed in Thailand.