Aircastle has joined a list of lessors that have reached settlement deals with Russian airlines, receiving USD43 million from two unnamed carriers, it said in a quarterly report issued in early January 2024.

Reuters specified that the claim related to four aircraft, although it also did not identify the lessors or airframes. Aircastle confirmed to ch-aviation the aircraft were leased to Rossiya and Aurora.

Other lessors, including AerCap, Air Lease Corporation, BOC Aviation, CDB Aviation, DAE Capital, SMBC Aviation Capital, and GA Telesis have previously disclosed various settlements with Russian lessees. While both the European Union and the United States have banned lessors from entering into new leases or continuing existing contracts with Russian carriers since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there are exceptions for pre-approved settlements covering aircraft effectively expropriated by the Russian government and carriers under its supervision.

Russian state-owned insurance firm NSK was given RUB296.8 billion rubles (USD3.3 billion) to settle lessor claims on behalf of Russian airlines. Aircraft are formally acquired by NSK and then transferred to the respective carriers.