How Russian Airlines Are Able To Obtain American Or European Made Aircraft Parts , Despite Sanctions ?

Recent revealations of Russian carriers sending their Aircraft to Iran for maintenance is an indication enough to make an wild guess that Russia is having a tough time to keep its Birds Flying , whether they are of American or European origin.

• Valued Tens of millions of dollars of aircraft parts have been transported to Russian airlines , those facing sanctions by the U.S.A
• Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines, Ural Airlines, Utair Aviation, S7 Airlines and Pobeda Airlines are among others, affected by the sanction.
• However, Sanctions are forcing Russian airlines to operate fewer flights, use fewer aircraft and cannibalize planes for spare parts.

Apart from visible increase in incidents and accidents of Russian carriers , the sanctions imposed by the United States and almost 40 other governments on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have significantly impacted its aviation industry. 

Due to these sanctions, Russian airlines haven’t been able to use the airspace of numerous countries. Carriers have had to cannibalize aircraft for spare parts to maintain Boeing and Airbus airliners. Some Russian airlines, though, have also found ways to circumvent the sanctions to buy avionics and other parts.

For the home grown ventures , Under its "import substitution program" , UAC Russia tried to fly the MC-21-300 Aircraft with Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines , to be certified by the year end, but apparently they don't have an answer to the Fleet with American or European origin.

Recently, the U.S. authorities also wanted Turkey to ban Russian airlines from flying in and out of the country on American-made aircraft (can be read as Boeing). Additionally , senior US officials had warned that Turkish entities could face consequences if they continue to provide services to Russian and Belarusian airlines flying US-made aircraft in violation of sanctions.

The Biden administration had slapped economic sanctions on a United Arab Emirates-based aviation company 'Kratol Aviation' for its alleged role in transporting Russia’s Wagner mercenaries to conflict zones abroad.

Oleg Patsulya , a Russian citizen living in South Florida, was arrested along with a business partner on charges of violating export controls and international money laundering, as reported by the New York Times.

He was accused of forwarding American parts to Russia via Turkey. His alleged actions, which came to the forefront, are just a tip of the massive network of actors illegally importing aircraft components and electronics into Russia, defying the goal of sanctions.

Another way for Russian carriers to avoid aircraft parts shortage is sending their aircraft to countries like Iran for maintenance.

Newyork times adds further, a U.S. trade data aggregator — Import Genius, after the research , observed that over 5,000 aircraft parts shipments were made into Russia over a period of eight months in the year 2022.

'Modus operandi' in those cases have been similar , the aircraft parts would be purchased from the manufacturers by third-party companies, and later shipped to countries like China or the United Arab Emirates, those friendly to Russia, to evade sanctions, and further forwarded to air carriers in Russia. During the period , they observed that the value of the parts imported was $14.4 million, including $8.9 million in Boeing components.

It's been acute for the Russian carriers to deal with part shortage , as the largest Russian airline Aeroflot will now ignore the defects in the cabin. Sources say, such internal orders and memos were received by senior flight attendants. Employees will be able to make records of malfunctions only after agreement with the aircraft commander.

Absence of  full set of oxygen cylinders, those are essential during the depressurisation events , or  defective vacuum generator used to flush aircraft's toilets for 6 months are few examples , where Russian carriers have started compromising.

While bypassing or defying an applied sanction can be offensive, the Russian aviation industry has taken a sizable hit and is still deservedly struggling to operate normally. The value of plane and aviation parts imports to Russia has fallen from $3.45 billion to only $286 million.

A former pilot at Nordwind Airlines told Proekt about a January incident at the Kazan international airport when fuel started leaking during the start-up of a Boeing 737's engines. The pilot recalled that technicians were unsurprised by the leak.

These all chaos in aviation industry started with changing the registration of leased aircraft under Russian Registry. Now, along with cannibalizing from their grounded aircraft, foreign aircraft stranded in Russia have been seized and stripped for parts.

Russia's flagship airline Aeroflot has asked its employees to refrain from recording equipment defects on aircraft, leading to planes regularly flying with malfunctions, according to the investigative news outlet Proekt, citing current and former employees at the airline.