Russian planes begin to fail as Western sanctions take effect
As early as the start of the month, 10 civilian aircraft in Russia have already had to make emergency landings in December, according to counts by the Belsat TV online service. The most recent such incident occurred on Friday. Due to sanctions, Russians are facing difficulty in finding replacement parts for the aircrafts they previously bought from the West.
7:27 AM EST, December 9, 2023
On Friday, a Boeing 737-800 belonging to S7 Russian Airlines was forced to make an impromptu landing after one of the engines failed, according to reports by The Moscow Times. The plane flying from Novosibirsk to Moscow had to return to the airport it took off from and landed safely. However, Belsat's online service notes that this is not an isolated incident.
It adds that merely a day before, a Tu-204M cargo plane flying from Ulan Ude to China's Zhangzhou was forced to make an emergency landing due to engine failure.
Additionally, a Russian civilian plane ran into issues on Wednesday. This time, it was an Aeroflot Boeing 777, where one of the passengers reportedly noticed smoke on board. Despite the carrier denying the presence of smoke, they acknowledged that a new plane had to be provided.
Belsat's calculations reveal that in December alone, a total of 10 civilian aircraft belonging to Russian carriers have malfunctioned.
Sanctions are proving effective
"Western sanctions imposed on Russia have effectively isolated Russia from Western aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing, making it complicated for Russian airlines to import and maintain aircraft parts," notes The Moscow Times. This is significant, considering the majority of civilian planes in service with Russian carriers are either Airbus or Boeing models.
This is affecting the operations of Russian businesses. As per Kommiersant's report in October, S7 airlines are decreasing the number of flights in their fall-winter schedule by 10-15 percent due to difficulties in servicing the engines of their Airbus planes.
