Ural Airlines announced the use of only certified spare parts

General Director of Ural Airlines Sergei Skuratov said that the airline uses only certified spare parts on its aircraft, despite the difficulties caused by the sanctions. He stated this at briefing following an incident involving an emergency landing of an Airbus A320 in a field.

“We have 52 Airbuses, all 52 are on the wing, all 52 undergo scheduled maintenance in full. The airline’s technical service has all the certificates for servicing aircraft of this type <...> We will never allow incorrect spare parts to be used. It’s difficult, with battle, but all the spare parts that are used on our aircraft are certified, I answer you for this with my head,” he said.

March 10, Director of the Aviation Technical Center of Ural Airlines Igor Poddubny reportedthat the company can operate flights without stopping planes or dismantling them for parts for another two to three months. At the same time, the air carrier also analyzed the global supply of materials and spare parts for aircraft and found “fairly civilized” options, he emphasized.

The Ural Airlines Airbus A320, flying from Sochi to Omsk on the morning of September 12, made an emergency landing in a wheat field in the Ubinsky district of the Novosibirsk region. There were 161 passengers and six crew members on board. No one died as a result of the incident. Several passengers suffered bruises, and two had high blood pressure.

As the airline said, the plane had problems with hydraulics, so the plane commander made a decision in Novosibirsk, where the runway is longer. While en route to the airport, the crew identified the risk that there might not be enough fuel for landing, and as a result, the decision was made to land the plane on a site selected from the air.

Due to the special operation in Ukraine, the US, EU, UK and a number of other countries imposed sanctions on the Russian aviation industry. They banned the supply of new aircraft and components for all Western-made aircraft to Russia, and aircraft repair and maintenance services were also banned. In addition, by the end of March 2022, European lessors were required to terminate all relations with Russian carriers, reclaiming the aircraft they owned.

After this, arrests of aircraft operated by Russian carriers began at foreign airports. The Russian Ministry of Transport, in turn, prohibited Russian airlines from exporting aircraft for repairs to foreign countries without the approval of the Ministry of Defense and the FSB.