Russia’s iFly readies A330s for Egypt charter flights

EU blacklists Russia's iFly Airlines for ops without CoA

The European Commission has added Russia's iFly Airlines (F7, Moscow Vnukovo) to its air safety black list for knowingly operating aircraft without valid certificates of airworthiness.

"I want to underline that this decision is not another sanction against Russia; it has been taken solely on the basis of technical and safety grounds," the European Union Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows iFly Airlines operates four A330-200s and three A330-300s. The -200s remain registered in Ireland, which has revoked all certificates of airworthiness of Russian-operated aircraft in the wake of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions on Russia. The four aircraft were all grounded as of early March and currently are in storage at Moscow Vnukovo (three) and Shanghai Pudong (one) airports. In turn, the -300s are currently the backbone of iFly's fleet. All three have been illegally re-registered from Ireland to Russia in recent weeks. One of the A330-300s operates as a passenger aircraft on routes to Hurghada...

Russian airlines preparing to pay lessors in rubles - report

Ten Russian airlines have opened "type C" ruble-denominated accounts to enable them to make payments to foreign lessors, a government official and a source close to the government told the business daily Vedomosti on June 1.

According to a decree that Russian President Vladimir Putin issued in early March in response to international sanctions after the country's aggression against Ukraine, companies with debts to foreign entities in "unfriendly states" can open type C accounts to send payments to them. A month later, Putin signed a decree temporarily converting contracts "in the transport sphere" to the Russian currency.

According to Vedomosti's sources, among the carriers now ready to pay for leases in rubles are Aeroflot and its subsidiaries Pobeda and Rossiya, S7 Airlines, smartavia, Alrosa Aviakompania, Aurora, Polar Airlines, Yakutia Airlines, and Yamal Airlines. And five more - iFly Airlines, Izhavia, NordStar, RusLine, and Ural Airlines - are in the process of setting up such accounts.

S7 confirmed to the newspaper: "In...

China bans expropriated Russian aircraft from its airspace

Irish civil aviation authority rescinds Russia-based COAs

Following on from its counterpart in Bermuda, the Irish Aviation Authority says it has now also revoked certificates of airworthiness for all Russian-operated planes registered in Ireland. The Bermuda and Irish registers accounted for around 750 of all Russian-operated aircraft pre-invasion.

This move affects a total of 34 aircraft spread across three carriers, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows, namely:

Alrosa Aviakompania (6R, Mirnyj):

• two B737-700s and four B737-800s;

iFly Airlines (F7, Moscow Vnukovo):

• six A330-200s and three A330-300s;

Rossiya (FV, St. Petersburg):

• nine B747-400s and five B777-300s and five B777-300(ER)s.

In terms of affected lessors that manage assets in Russia:

• AerCap oversees four B777-300(ER)s with Rossiya (but sub-leased to Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo)) and two B737-800s with Alrosa;
• Air Lease Corporation oversees an A330-200 and three A330-300s with iFly;
• Carlyle Aviation Partners oversees two B737-700s with Alrosa;
• DAE Capital oversees four A330-200s with iFly;
...