Translated material
Ministry of Transport: Russia will have to decide on the purchase of 500 leased aircraft worth $20 billion
The Russian government will have to resolve the issue of repurchasing more than 500 aircraft leased from foreign companies. This was announced during a speech in the Federation Council by the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation Vitaly Savelyev, Interfax and RIA Novosti report .
“First, we need to decide with the government what to do with the airlines, which we, in general, encouraged to leave the planes. That is, the repurchase of aircraft should be or should not be. <...> Requests have already been received for the [return] of more than 500 foreign-made aircraft. <...> I'll just tell you the amount of the buyout - it's $20 billion in residual value, if you buy back what we underpaid. This is a very large amount,” the minister said.
He added that airlines are trying to negotiate with lessors to buy the aircraft, "but so far to no avail." “The company must continue to pay leasing payments, but lessors do not want to sell aircraft to us,” Savelyev explained.
At the same time, he called the lessors' demand for the return of the aircraft a political decision. “If you give them 500 aircraft, they won’t be able to remarket them, they won’t be able to resell them, that is, they just take them away, because such a political decision,” Kommersant quoted him as saying.
“The second part is letters of credit. This is about 200 billion rubles for all airlines, because our banks issued letters of credit against foreign banks, guaranteeing these payments [under leasing agreements], Savelyev continued. “Now these letters of credit have been opened, and the default of the airlines, which will take place on March 28 (we hope to find a solution by this time) will give a cross-default on our banks. So either the banks suffer or the airlines because the banks make claims.”
- The European Union and the United States closed the skies for Russian airlines after the start of the war; Russia introduced a retaliatory ban. In addition, on February 26, the EU imposed sanctions that prohibit the supply of civil aircraft and spare parts to Russia, as well as their maintenance and insurance. Sanctions also oblige lessors to terminate existing contracts with airlines by March 28 and obtain the return of leased aircraft.
- The Russian authorities did not voluntarily return these planes. Because of this, as Vitaly Savelyev previously reported , 78 out of more than 1,300 aircraft of Russian airlines were arrested abroad.
- According to Savelyev, for Russia to give away leased aircraft "means leaving itself without aviation." At the same time, the minister warned that these aircraft will never again be able to fly to countries that are implementing sanctions, "due to the fact that we took someone else's property." Almost 200 aircraft that are Russian or were registered as Russian before the imposition of sanctions will be available for international flights.