The appeal supported the recovery of $5.1 million from Airbus in favor of the Rostec structure

The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court to satisfy the claim of Aviacapital-Service (AKS, Rostec leasing company) against Airbus. This is reported in card cases on the website of the Moscow Arbitration Court.

“Leave the court’s decision unchanged and the complaint unsatisfied,” the court materials say.

Aviacapital Service went to court to recover an advance payment of $5.1 million from Airbus in December last year. The leasing company transferred these funds to the European aircraft manufacturer, according to the case materials. The funds were to be used to pay for future deliveries of eight long-range A350-900 aircraft and nine A350-1000 aircraft. As the media noted earlier, the aircraft were intended for Aeroflot and were supposed to fly on routes from Moscow to New York, London, Miami, Dubai, Osaka and Beijing.

The planes did not arrive in the Russian Federation, and the money “was appropriated by Airbus under the pretext of sanctions,” Rostec reported. Airbus ignored the pre-trial claims of the Russian side, and the AKS considered the withholding of the advance by the European company as unjust enrichment.

Airbus, wrote Vedomosti petitioned to leave the claim without consideration, since the parties had entered into an arbitration agreement to resolve disputes regarding the production and supply of aircraft in the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.

At the end of May, the Moscow Arbitration Court sided with the AKS and imposed a ban on the consideration of the dispute in foreign courts. He considered that the company could not protect its interests in the European court due to the ban on entry into the EU and the transfer of funds. In July the court satisfied AKS lawsuit, recovering $5.1 million from Airbus.

After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Western countries introduced sanctions, which also affected the Russian aviation industry. Unfriendly countries closed the skies to Russian aircraft, Russia introduced mirror measures. Russian carriers were prohibited from purchasing foreign-made aircraft and spare parts for them, as well as carrying out maintenance and insurance of aircraft.