'We survive as best we can': the pilot spoke about the deplorable state of Russian civil aviation

Aeroflot pilot, captain of the A-320 airliner Andrei Litvinov spoke about the state of civil aviation in Russia and its prospects, reports “Present Time”.

Photo: IStock

Russian airlines may suspend flights on Russian regional Sukhoi Superjet liners due to a shortage of engine spark plugs. They are missing because the engines on the Superjet were not Russian, but Russian-French, and the spark plugs for them were produced by a company from the United States. You need to change the candles every thousand takeoffs.

The largest Superjet operator, Rossiya Airlines, which has 76 such aircraft, is facing a shortage of components. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, foreign companies refused to supply new imported Airbuses and Boeings to Russia. By decision of Vladimir Putin, Russian airlines did not return aircraft belonging to Western lessors. We were talking about 595 aircraft. Under these conditions, the Sukhoi Superjet remained a machine on which Russian airlines could continue to fly abroad.

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Sukhoi Superjet is assembled in Russia. But 70% of Superjet parts are imported parts.

“Rostec says: “By 2025, we will reach the point where our aircraft will consist of 97% of our spare parts. What about 3%? You can’t be a little pregnant: 97% pregnant. That's why I became such a pessimist. They say that a pessimist is a well-informed optimist,” says Andrei Litvinov, an Aeroflot pilot. “You already listen to these officials, they juggle with these numbers, dates, times, wishes, slogans, and you just get tired of this information. Therefore, when our plane is 100% complete, it is certified and will fly, then we can applaud. In the meantime, the situation is deplorable, and this is all very bad for civil aviation.”

In addition, the Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade banned the maintenance and refueling of almost 40 aircraft from Russia and Belarus. The decision was made in accordance with the US Department of Commerce's Export Practices Letter from the Office of Industry and Security.

“We survive as best we can”

Russian air carriers have to deal with problems as they come. Never before in the history of civil aviation has any country faced such sanctions as Russia has. Only Iran has been under sanctions for over 40 years, but Iran has an old air base.

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“In Iran there were other technologies, somehow they got out and get out. But we have different planes. Agree, 40 years ago these were completely different aircraft than modern ones. They are stuffed with electronics and modern technologies. Therefore, naturally, all airlines that operate Boeings and Airbuses face problems with the supply of spare parts,” says Litvinov. “We survive as best we can.”

Rearrangement of spare parts

Due to the sanctions that were imposed on Russia, the supply of components and spare parts for aircraft to the country stopped. Aeroflot's more than 40% of flights were flights abroad. Now there is no opportunity to fly there, and many planes have become vacant. There are extra planes from which some spare part can be removed and put on another plane. But this cannot continue indefinitely, as Litvinov says. It all depends on how long the plane will fly, how often, and what the load will be on it. The more it is used, the greater the need for consumables.

“Let’s say that even a new plane that is taking off is hit by a bird, glass breaks, a pebble hits the engine, and a blade is bent. This is the same technique. And in any case, you always need some kind of spare parts, I’m not talking about consumables, but some serious ones: electronic units that need to be taken out one and inserted the other,” says Litvinov. “Therefore, all this is creating a fever for civil aviation and does not allow it to work calmly under the conditions of these sanctions.”

Russia was working on options for circumventing the sanctions, and even turned to its partners: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and others. But the fact is that all airlines, even those that are ready to help Russia, operate the same Boeings and Airbuses. And companies that can and want to supply spare parts for Russian aircraft will be subject to sanctions if they start doing so. Litvinov emphasized that no one wants to compromise their civil aviation.

Spare parts are handled by General Electric, where they require you to specify the end user when selling your spare parts. If a company does not indicate or indicates a Russian consumer, then it automatically falls under secondary sanctions.

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“The same China, for example. It also produces the same C919, similar to Airbus. But there are spare parts that are produced in America and Europe. And they were threatened that if they help Russian airlines, they themselves could be subject to sanctions,” says Litvinov. — The message is: “We are happy to help you, but, sorry, we ourselves do not want to experience difficulties with spare parts.”

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