Russian Official Deepens $10 Billion Puzzle Over Leased Jets

  • Some foreign-owned planes to be kept, others returned, he says
  • Air Transport Agency rebuts air-safety official’s comments

    

Photographer: Matthieu Rondel/Bloomberg
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Off-the-cuff remarks made by a Russian air-safety official, quickly disavowed by the nation’s industry watchdog, have added to the uncertainty over the fate of some $10 billion in foreign-owned aircraft being held in the country.

Valery Kudinov, who heads airworthiness maintenance at Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, outlined what appeared to be a plan taking shape for the country’s aviation sector to continue flying after the country was sanctioned over its invasion of Ukraine.