The United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Temporary Denial Order (TDO) covering all of Ural Airlines' export privileges in relation to its apparent violation of US sanctions.
The US administration alleges that the Russian airline operated aircraft covered by US export regulations without the appropriate authorisation on multiple international flights, including to Bishkek, Dushanbe, Khudzhand, and Tamchy.
The TDO has been issued for 180 days but can be extended. Entities sanctioned with a TDO are not allowed to participate in any transactions covering goods or services subject to US export regulations, even if the transaction itself does not include any US-based entities.
The BIS's most recent list of aircraft identified as being operated by Russian airlines in violation of sanctions includes three Ural A320-200s and five of its A321-200s. The ch-aviation fleets module shows the carrier operates four A319-100s, twenty-three A320-200s, three A320-200Ns, fifteen A321-200s, and eight A321-200NX, all of which are leased and have been re-registered in Russia. However, as non-EU and non-US-based lessors are able to continue transactions with Russian entities, it is not clear how many of them have been re-registered unilaterally without the consent of the lessor.
The BIS has thus far issued TDOs against Aeroflot, UTair, Azur Air, Aviastar-TU, Rossiya, Pobeda, Nordwind Airlines, and S7 Airlines. Following the inclusion of Ural Airlines on the list, the only two airlines from the top 10 Russian carriers by fleet size not slapped with a TDO are Red Wings Airlines and Yamal Airlines.
