Majority of Jets Leased to Russia Remain Unrecovered

Foreign leasing companies which have supplied Russia’s airline industry with more than half of its 980 aircraft fleet recovered “only a fraction” of the jets involved prior to 28 March 2022 when ties were severed with Russian carriers under Western sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According Reuters’ reporting of details from aviation data firm Cirium, 515 aircraft of Russia’s fleet were leased from foreign firms, about 400 of which were most immediately at risk from the crisis. Of those, industry executives say few have been returned.

Domhnal Slattery, chief executive of Dublin-based Avolon, the world’s second-largest leasing firm, told Reuters that Avolon managed to recover four aircraft while ten other aircraft remain blocked in Russia. After deducting the value of four jets that have been recovered, as well as security and letters of credit that have been drawn down, Slattery told Reuters that the firm’s net exposure is below USD 200 million.

“From an Avolon perspective it is not material; from a sector perspective it is a problem, unquestionably”, said Slattery, who added,”[i]n terms of future appetite in a post-war scenario for further business in Russia, I think all players in our sector will think long and hard about the risks of that jurisdiction and the appetite for going back in”.