Aeroflot estimates settlement deals for last 36 planes from foreign lessors at $1.1 bln
VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 8 (Interfax) - The insurance settlement deals for the last set of 36 Aeroflot planes obtained from "fully" foreign lessors are worth an estimated $1.1 billion, Aeroflot CEO Sergei Alexandrovsky told journalists at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF 2025).
"A total of $1.1 billion has been allocated for these planes. This is for the 17 that have already been settled [in the first half of 2025], 17 still in the process and two more on which we plan to sign settlement deals by the end of the year," he said.
Alexandrovsky said that around 45 billion rubles had already been allocated for the 17 settlement deals completed, using funds from an exchange bond program worth 86.9 billion rubles or the foreign currency equivalent, which was approved by the board of directors in February 2024. "We are continuing work on 17 more aircraft and plan to finish by the end of September. It's a fairly complex legal mechanism; for our part, we are fully prepared, as is the counterparty," Alexandrovsky said.
The sanctions imposed by Western countries after the military operation in Ukraine began in February 2022 stipulate a ban on the export of civil aircraft and components, as well as maintenance services and insurance for them. Since 2023, Russian airlines have been negotiating so-called insurance settlements with the foreign lessors of aircraft supplied to them prior to sanctions. These deals terminate the requirements of the previous lessors towards the aircraft, making it possible for NLK Finance, a subsidiary of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya), to become their new owner. Airlines are now signing new lease agreements with the company for the same planes. This system makes it possible to "cleanse" the aircraft of foreign registration and use them for overseas flights without risk of arrest.
In order to execute these deals for 162 aircraft in 2023, almost 297 billion rubles were taken from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) in 2023, most of which was allocated for 101 Aeroflot planes. Using its own funds as well as borrowings, Aeroflot had planned to sign insurance settlement deals on 36 more aircraft by the end of July. Alexandrovsky said that this was the last of the group's airplane fleet which belonged to fully foreign lessors and had double registration. Following the deals, the number of "cleansed" planes will reach 228.
Aeroflot is also planning to sign insurance settlement deals for planes belonging to former foreign subsidiaries of Russian banks and companies, Alexandrovsky told Kommersant. Despite the fact that most of them have already been "cleansed" of their double registration, "uncertainty still remains" regarding their operation, he said.
Aeroflot's fleet consists of 59 wide-body and 212 narrow-body Boeing and Airbus planes, as well as 78 of Russia's Superjet 100 aircraft. The iFly airline also leases three Airbus A330 planes and their crews to Aeroflot.
