Aeroflot with foreign lessors to transfer ownership rights to another 28 airliners

MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - Aeroflot Group has reached settlements with several groups of foreign lessors on another 28 airliners, a spokesman for the Russian carrier told reporters.

"The lessors have dropped their claims against the Russian parties regarding these aircraft, both on insurance policies issued by Russian insurance companies and on lease contracts with PJSC Aeroflot, Pobeda Airlines LLC and JSC Rossiya Airlines. The right of ownership to the aircraft has been transferred to NSK Insurance Company LLC, which paid the sum of the settlement," the spokesman said.

Negotiations on settling claims with other leasing companies are continuing, he said.

Aeroflot CEO Sergei Aleksandrovsky said earlier that the company was in talks with foreign leasing companies on insurance settlements for a total of 61 leased planes. Ultimately, these airliners will become the property of the leasing company specially created in Russia, which will finance their acquisition with money from the National Welfare Fund, and Aeroflot will make lease payments to this company, he said. The net profit of the airlines is also being used for the transactions.

Aeroflot announced the first such deal in September, when it reached a settlement with Irish leasing company AerCap on 18 aircraft and five spare engines. In October, a similar deal was reached with Irish leasing company SMBC Aviation Capital on 17 leased airplanes, and then with CDB Aviation on four planes and with BOC Aviation on nine planes.

The ownership rights to the aircraft were also transferred to NSK Insurance Company, which was founded at the end of 2022 by Civilian Airport Administration, a state company controlled by Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency. NSK, in turn, controls leasing company NLK Finance LLC, with which new leases are signed for the planes that have been bought out.