Aeroflot sends aircraft to Iran for repair for the first time
In case of a successful result, the company may send other liners there.
Aeroflot, against the backdrop of Western sanctions, for the first time in history sent its aircraft to Iran for repairs. Competences of local companies in the field of aircraft maintenance, according to the carrier’s calculations, will complement the capabilities of Aeroflot Group
Aeroflot for the first time in history sent a plane from its fleet for maintenance to Iran, two sources close to the carrier told RBC, and confirmed by its representative. Last week, on April 5, an Airbus A330-300 wide-body airliner with registration number RA-73700 flew to Tehran, where the aircraft will be serviced by technicians from the largest Iranian carrier Mahan Air.
Aeroflot is the largest Russian airline, with
178 Airbus and Boeing aircraft in its fleet as of April 1.
Why did Aeroflot send the aircraft to Iran for repairs?
According to RBC sources, Aeroflot discussed the possibility of maintenance in Iran for several months against the backdrop of Western sanctions that
impose restrictions on the work of foreign companies with Russian aircraft. Iran does not support anti-Russian sanctions and is not afraid of secondary sanctions from the United States or the European Union, says Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the AviaPort industry agency. “During the decades of economic blockade by the West (
the first sanctions were imposed since 1979 ), Iran has acquired extensive competencies in the repair of aircraft and their components. These factors are enough to develop partnership relations with Iran,” the expert believes.
Iran has extensive experience in maintaining aircraft under external sanctions restrictions, agrees Alexander Terentyev, Director for Air Transport Development at the Center for Infrastructure Economics (CEI). In addition, Aeroflot decided to service aircraft in Iran, since in this friendly country the risk of aircraft arrest is minimal, says Alexander Divakov, director of the corporate ratings group at the National Credit Ratings Agency (NKR). According to the Bermuda aviation authorities, the A330 aircraft, which flew to Tehran for maintenance, like two more aircraft of this type from the Aeroflot fleet, had a so-called double registration on March 1 (it was in the registers of Russia and Bermuda at the same time). “If you try to service [such] aircraft in countries that have certified centers, these aircraft will at best be refused service, at worst they will be arrested,” Divakov said.
The key task of sending the first A330 for repair to Mahan Air is the maintenance of the landing gear of the aircraft. Previously, Aeroflot used the capacities of other providers for these purposes, in particular the Hong Kong-based HAECO. In the summer of 2021, the carrier
signed a new long-term agreement for the maintenance and overhaul of aircraft components with this company. But due to international sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the special operation in Ukraine, this agreement cannot be implemented now.
According to one of RBC's sources, Aeroflot plans to send several more A330s to Iran for maintenance, but the final decision on this will be made as a result of cooperation with Mahan Air on the first aircraft. The representative of Aeroflot did not answer the question about the prospects for further development of cooperation with the Iranian company.
“Maintenance of the Airbus A330 aircraft [in Iran] will be performed by the provider on a wide range of works. The organization [Mahan Air] has the necessary material base, certificates and vast experience, the provider performs maintenance with a high level of quality, ”says an Aeroflot representative. Iran has created a virtually independent system for maintaining the airworthiness of Western equipment, Terentiev points out. “Judging by the absence of serious aviation incidents in recent years, she copes with her tasks,” he adds. “The country has established a high level of repair and maintenance of foreign aircraft. Aircraft of Iranian airlines fly on many international routes, and the aviation authorities of these countries have no complaints about the level of flight safety, ”recalls Panteleev.
According to an Aeroflot representative, the competencies of Iranian companies in the field of maintenance and repair of aircraft will complement the capabilities of the entire group (except for the airline of the same name, it includes the carrier Rossiya and the low-cost carrier Pobeda).
In 2022, the provider Aeroflot Technics, which is also part of the Aeroflot Group, performed more than 300 forms of periodic aircraft maintenance. “In 2023, the process of expanding competencies and increasing the volume of work performed will continue. Ultimately, Aeroflot Technics will become Russia's largest maintenance and repair center for domestic and Western aircraft,”
said Mikhail Korobovich, General Director of Aeroflot Technics. On March 20, the press service of Aeroflot
reported that the group's provider for the first time in Russia independently replaced the landing gear on A330 aircraft.
What difficulties have arisen with the maintenance of aircraft
Western sanctions
affected , among other things, repair services and the supply of spare parts to Russian carriers. As a result, for example, the German provider Lufthansa Technik, which
supported hundreds of aircraft of Russian carriers,
including Aeroflot ,
for more than 15 years ,
curtailed business in Russia.
Against this background, Russian airlines began to look for alternative opportunities for the repair of equipment abroad. Thus, the Tatarstan carrier UVT Aero has experience in sending the regional aircraft Bombardier CRJ200 for maintenance to Iran, two sources close to this airline told RBC. A company representative declined to comment on this information. Rossiya Airlines also sent at least one engine for repairs to Mahan Air, a source familiar with the technical specialists of several Russian carriers told RBC. At the same time, in Iran, there are difficulties with access to spare parts. “Until recently, Iranian companies bought them all over the world, including Europe and the United States, but recently these supplies have become more complicated, Western countries have become more control over supplies to Iran. In some cases, Russian airlines themselves have to find and buy spare parts, and in Iran they are repaired and installed,” he said.
At present, Russian enterprises have not mastered the full range of services for the refurbishment of aircraft engines, auxiliary power units, landing gear and some others, RBC was told in the press service of Smartavia. For this reason, the carrier is considering the possibility of repairing components abroad in the future, they indicated. “Nevertheless, domestic repair enterprises are mastering the repair of certain types of aircraft engines and auxiliary power units, for which Russian airlines have the highest demand,” notes a Smartavia representative. The most difficult positions to maintain in Russia are aircraft engines and propellers, and avionics, Panteleev says. “The complexity is dictated by the fact that the creation and approval of repair documentation for such complex products takes more time than the development of documents for the manufacture of simple parts, such as pipes, hoses and gaskets,” he explains.
Secondo Igor Smirnov, direttore senior per i rating aziendali presso Expert RA, finché ci saranno aerei stranieri nell'aviazione civile russa, i vettori dipenderanno almeno dalle riparazioni dei motori. "La manutenzione del motore non sostituirà mai le importazioni: non ci sono disegni e il reverse engineering non fornirà precisione e terrà conto di tutte le caratteristiche", ritiene Smirnov. È praticamente impossibile ottenere la sovranità tecnologica in termini di manutenzione dei componenti degli aeromobili Airbus e Boeing più popolari, poiché non esiste produzione, tecnologia o documentazione tecnica per i componenti chiave di questi aeromobili, concorda Divakov. Secondo Panteleev, I vettori russi smetteranno di utilizzare i servizi di società straniere per riparare le apparecchiature quando l'assistenza in Russia diventerà più redditizia da un punto di vista economico o quando non ci saranno più aeromobili importati nel paese. "Sulla base del fatto che è redditizio servire quei tipi di aeromobili che si trovano nella flotta di una compagnia aerea (o di più compagnie aeree), si può presumere che in termini di posizioni semplicemente non abbia senso padroneggiare [in Russia] tutti i tipi di riparazioni da soli", ha spiegato l'esperto.
Il 31 marzo, il capo del Ministero dei trasporti, Vitaly Savelyev, ha dichiarato ai giornalisti che ora in Russia ci sono più di 200 organizzazioni di manutenzione di aeromobili certificate. Secondo il funzionario, le organizzazioni chiave in Russia dispongono di 23 hangar in grado di servire più di 80 velivoli contemporaneamente, di cui 14 di grandi dimensioni. "Il numero totale di hangar consente di fornire la manutenzione degli aeromobili senza code e tempi di inattività", ha sottolineato Savelyev.
RBC ha inviato richieste ai servizi stampa del Ministero dei trasporti, dell'Agenzia federale per il trasporto aereo, S7 Airlines, Pobeda, Rossiya, Ural Airlines e Utair.
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