Due to sanctions, Russian Aeroflot starts purchasing old aircraft as source of spare parts
Illustrative photo: Aeroflot has started purchasing old Boeing 737 aircraft (flickr.com)
Russia's largest airline, Aeroflot, will purchase old Boeing 737 aircraft. The company plans to use them for spare parts for its own fleet, The Moscow Times informs.
According to media reports, Aeroflot plans to acquire five cargo Boeing 737-800BCF aircraft from the Volga-Dnepr Group. These planes will be used for spare parts.
The aircraft are likely 21-22 years old and are valued between 1.4 billion and 1.9 billion rubles each. However, the rights to their use belong to the structure of Atran, a subsidiary of Volga-Dnepr. Russian Aeroflot plans to negotiate the transfer of leasing rights and reach a settlement agreement with the aircraft's owner, the Irish company AerCap.
Aeroflot intends to transfer the planes to its low-cost subsidiary, Pobeda. According to the news agency, converting cargo planes into passenger ones under the current sanctions would be too complicated and "unjustifiably expensive." Therefore, Aeroflot is likely to remove engines, landing gear, avionics, and other components from the aircraft.
Aircraft issues in Russia
Earlier, we reported that one of the aviation companies in the Russian Federation had suspended the use of half of its fleet of Western-made Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft. The company is unable to carry out its maintenance and servicing due to engine issues discovered in the planes.
