Half Of Russian Airlines' Airbus A320 & A321neo Planes Can't Fly Because Of Engine Issues
By Aaron Spray - Journalist | Simple Flying
According to the Russian news outlet Kommersant, half of Russia's Airbus A320/321neos have stopped flying due to maintenance issues. After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the West imposed crippling sanctions on Russia's aviation industry and its fleets of hundreds of Airbus and Boeing aircraft are now cut off from official maintenance and parts. Simple Flying reported in May 2024 that Russia's S7 Airlines was working to reverse-engineer the 'hot parts' of the CFM 56 engines. While Russia has extensive capability to keep its airliners flying, that ability is not infinite.
Half of Airbus A320/321neos not working
On November 21, Kommersant reported every second Airbus A320neo and Airbus A321neo had stopped flying. This affects some 34 aircraft - around half of all the aircraft in the family of jets that Russia has (66 of the aircraft). The publication states that some of them have been put into reserve to preserve their engine life until the high season but that 15 to 20 of them may never fly again. A320/A321neos are around 10% of the entire foreign fleet of airliners in Russia.
Kommersant states that these aircraft cannot be repaired in Russia due to their complexity, and parts can't be imported because of the sanctions. It estimates that a large-scale withdrawal of A320/A321neos in Russia is possible as early as 2026. Eight of these A321neos haven't been flown since 2023.
The issue is the most acute for S7 Airlines, which has 31 of its 39 A320/A321neos parked. Notably, these aircraft are only between three and seven years old. The CFM International LEAP engines of over 20 aircraft have been exhausted, so Russian airlines are moving to conserve the engine life of the remaining aircraft. The woes are apparently not affecting all aircraft in Russia, e.g., only one A319 is not flying.
Russia claims groundings will not affect air travel
In a follow-up article, Kommersant reported on Russian Minister Roman Starovoit commenting on their previous article. He said the parked and withdrawn aircraft will not have a significant negative impact on air travel and deflected Russia's inability to service the engines saying it is "clear that Airbus engines were being installed that were not fully developed when they started to fail."....
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