Rosaviatsia learns about cancellation of airworthiness certificates for aircraft with foreign registration - document

MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - The Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsia) has learned from "unofficial sources" about cases of cancellation of airworthiness certificates for aircraft of Russian airlines registered abroad, a telegram from the agency sent to airlines said.

"Information is coming in from unofficial sources without a notarized translation about the cancellation of airworthiness certificates for Russian airlines' aircraft registered in foreign registers," the telegram, receipt of which was confirmed to Interfax by a major airline, said.

"In this regard, I recommend the Rosaviatsia interregional territorial departments and operators to inform Rosaviatsia [...] about all cases of receipt of the above information and not to take decisions on suspension of aircraft flights without Rosaviatsia's confirmation," the document said.

Most of civil aircraft in the fleets of Russian airlines are registered abroad, mainly in Bermuda Islands. The airlines said that it is economically inexpedient to register the aircraft in Russia and that Russian maintenance and repair organizations often do not have foreign certificates (European EASA or U.S. FAA) while the work done according to Russian documents is not legitimate abroad.

As reported, on the night of February 26, the European Union published a renewed package of sanctions on Russia due to the military operation in Ukraine. The document, in particular, prohibits the supply of civil aircraft and spare parts to Russia. The leasing companies are banned from concluding new contracts with Russian companies, while the current ones must be terminated within a month. The sanctions also prohibit deliveries of systems and components required for aircraft production to Russia.