Russia Bans Some Foreign Flights to Prevent Aircraft Seizure
- Foreign lessors seek return of jets worth billions of dollars
- Move will further isolate country’s citizens from travel
An advertisement for Aeroflot-Russian Airlines at Sheremetyevo International Airport OAO in Moscow.
Source: Bloomberg
Russia will halt some international flights to keep billions of dollars worth of aircraft from being taken back by their foreign owners, deepening a rupture in the global aviation industry triggered by the invasion of Ukraine.
The government’s move will give Aeroflot and other Russian carriers cover to hold on to hundreds of Airbus SE and Boeing Co. jetliners that their owners are demanding be returned. Leasing firms, many based in Ireland, are seeking possession of the aircraft by March 28 under European Union sanctions and a broader set of banking prohibitions that make it impossible to legally continue renting and insuring the planes.