The war between Ukraine and Russia had a correlate of Western sanctions against the latter, including the supply of aircraft and spare parts from European and US companies.
The Russian government took drastic measures to guarantee the continuity of domestic and, to a lesser extent, international airline operations, but the doubt was in the air: beyond the aircraft, the logistic and supply chain has always been finite, and aircraft depend on spare parts and systems provided by manufacturers or their chain of suppliers.
As reported by the Russian newspaper Vedomosti, in April and May the Russian aviation authority (Rosaviatsia) issued aircraft developer certificates to five companies to authorize them to perform modification, certification of minor changes and issuance of technical documentation, including approval of repair documentation and changes.
The companies that received the certificates include the State Civil Aviation Research Institute, S7 Technics (part of the S7 Group), the Ural Civil Aviation Plant, Aviation Engineering Solutions and the Navigator Institute of Aeronautical Instrumentation.
Also, according to Vedomosti, Volga-Dnepr engineering, UTair-engineering, Aviagrand, A-technics of Aeroflot group and Aviaintercom have applied for certification, but so far Rosaviatsia has not issued a decision on their requirements.
The measure, which was not almost expected, comes after China’s refusal to supply parts for Western aircraft fleets operating in Russia, forcing it to look for spare parts and rotables in smaller but important markets such as India and Turkey.
While initially the certificates issued by the aviation authority are aimed at the replacement or repair of interiors, seats and comfort items or galley tooling, the pressure to keep airline aircraft operational could lead to a move towards the replacement of more complex parts.
The loss of traceability resulting from the installation of non-approved parts could mean that the aircraft would not be able to recover their airworthiness even if they were returned to the lessors claiming them, so there is a serious chance that the equipment affected by these changes would lose their commercial value.
