Aeroflot “cleared” another 17 foreign aircraft

Group “Aeroflot» completed an insurance settlement with the Irish leasing company SMBC Aviation Capital for 17 foreign aircraft, the airline’s press service reported. 16 aircraft were owned by SMBC, and another aircraft was managed.

“In accordance with the agreements reached, lessors have ceased their claims against Russian parties both under insurance policies issued by Russian insurance companies and under leasing agreements with PJSC “Aeroflot” Ownership of the aircraft transferred to the insurance company Insurance Company NSK LLC, which paid the settlement amount,” the carrier said in a statement. Negotiations with other lessors are ongoing.

The carrier does not disclose the details of the transaction and the amount of compensation.

After the introduction of Western sanctions in 2022, foreign lessors were required to terminate leasing agreements with Russian airlines within a few weeks. The latter, in turn, had to return the aircraft and engines to the owners. But the Russian government introduced a ban on the export of aircraft and key components without approval from the Ministry of Defense and the FSB. In this way, it was possible to preserve these aircraft on Russian territory and avoid a shortage of carrying capacity in Russian civil aviation. Once the insurance settlement is completed, the aircraft will remain in service.”Aeroflot“

SMBC Aviation Capital is one of the largest lessors in the world. Owned by a consortium of Japanese Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company Limited, Sumitomo Corporation.

“NSK Insurance Company” was registered on November 23, 2022, 100% owned by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Administration of Civil Airports (Airdromes)” (controlled by the Federal Air Transport Agency). Interfax, citing sources, wrote that the company was created to insure the risks of the aviation industry and air carriers in connection with sanctions pressure on the industry and the blocking of traditional air insurance mechanisms.

Insurance settlement is the process of transferring ownership of foreign aircraft from foreign lessors to Russian ones. Russian carriers negotiate with foreign lessors on the purchase of aircraft, after which NSC, through third parties, transfers funds to the owners of the aircraft. The Russian government allocated 300 billion rubles for the settlement. from the National Welfare Fund (NWF), of which 202 billion rubles remained at the end of September. All 98 billion rubles. were spent on aircraft located at “Aeroflot” In addition, almost all of the profit of Pobeda Airlines (15 billion rubles in 2022) minus 650 million rubles was allocated for settlement. excess profit tax, which will be sent to the budget of the Russian Federation.

At the moment, not a single Russian airline, except “Aeroflot“, was unable to use the funds of the National Welfare Fund. This requires a government decree regulating the distribution of funds, which should have been issued in the summer. It is not published at the moment. Vedomosti’s source in one of the airlines participating in negotiations on the repurchase of their ships fears that all the funds from the National Welfare Fund will be used to pay off Aeroflot’s obligations, and private airlines will not be able to use the funds.

Vedomosti’s source in one of the airlines estimates the amount of the deal with SMBC at $700-750 million (69.5 – 74.44 billion rubles at the exchange rate as of October 2).

Besides, “Ural Airlines» expect to close transactions on at least 19 aircraft, IFly on three aircraft.

In early autumn, Aeroflot announced the closure of deals with the Irish AerCap for 18 aircraft and five engines (see Vedomosti dated September 5, 2023). The group’s fleet today includes 120 aircraft, fully transferred to the Russian registry. General Director “Aeroflot“Sergei Aleksandrovsky in an interview with Vedomosti on August 13) said that the group expects to “clean” 61 aircraft by the end of the year. Since then, the airline has closed deals on 35 ships.

In September, the law firm “Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners” (represented the interests of “Aeroflot» in London International Arbitration) published news on its website, which stated that the settlement amount with AerCap amounted to $645 million (64 billion rubles).

Independent transport expert Elena Sakhnova previously told Vedomosti that cleaning foreign aircraft is necessary to build an efficient schedule, “when the same aircraft fly to both foreign and domestic destinations, depending on demand.” After completing the procedure, these machines will be able to operate flights to Israel, Mongolia, Morocco, Tunisia and other countries, she said.

A source in one of the airlines emphasized that Russian carriers “can only fly to Turkey, Thailand, the countries of Transcaucasia, Central Asia and the Middle East.” “The number of overseas markets is limited in this situation”Aeroflot“gains an advantage over competitors given the overwhelming advantage in the fleet,” he says.