“Sanctions have an effect”: Air travel in Russia becomes increasingly dangerous – WP

Almost two years of sanctions against the Russian Federation due to the war in Ukraine mean that Russian airlines are struggling to obtain critical spare parts and safety standards have fallen as a result. The Washington Post wrote about this on January 16.

It was reported that in the first eight days of December, Russian civilian aircraft experienced at least eight serious mechanical problems and pilots were forced to make emergency landings. According to the authors of the article, such cases point to the increasing danger of air travel in Russia.

As noted by journalists, in September 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organization expressed serious concerns about the country’s ability to ensure the safety of its aircraft. At the same time, the Russian Federation continued to insist that sanctions did not affect the safety of air travel.

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By contrast, Oleg Panteleev, director of Russian aviation analytics center Aviaport, said in December that risks were “increasing exponentially.” According to him, the number of technical inspections has decreased sharply.

Russian aviation analyst Andrei Menshenin added that “sanctions affect flight safety,” but Russian airlines have mitigated the impact of sanctions by importing spare parts from Central Asia, Turkey, Singapore, Iran and other countries.

According to Russian aviation safety expert Andrei Patrakov, Russian authorities allow airlines to use parts whose service life has long expired, which leads to malfunctions in flight.

Patrakov said he feared reprisals from Russian authorities for discussing aviation-related risks. He also noted that aviation security in the Russian Federation was “a complete disaster” even before the imposition of sanctions. Planes continue to fly with faulty parts such as cracks long after they should be replaced, an expert said.

Let us remind you that on December 9, there was news in the press that the number of malfunctions in Russian aircraft had tripled during the year due to sanctions. Thus, more than 180 cases of malfunctions in flight have been recorded since the beginning of 2023. There were 60 such events in 2022.

So, on December 8, the Boeing 737 passenger plane made an emergency landing at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport due to an engine fire. According to media reports, sparks and flames suddenly erupted from both engines while climbing.