Vedomosti: more than 1,000 Russian helicopters may be decommissioned
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Chairman of the Board of the Helicopter Industry Association (AVI) Mikhail Kazachkov sent a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin stating that Russian Helicopters is introducing a ban on extending the service life of the Mi-8T helicopter and the world’s largest Mi-26T helicopter. It is reported Vedomosti with a link to the document.
According to Mr. Kazachkov, the ban on extending the service life will provoke an increase in the costs of federal and regional government customers involving the Mi-8T to extinguish forest fires, an increase in the cost of search and rescue services and an increase in the costs of the Russian Post for the delivery of mail and cargo to hard-to-reach regions.
“The introduction of this ban affects the interests of all operators using Mi-8T helicopters, and will have an unbalanced, negative impact on the aviation work market,” Mikhail Kazachkov said.
He noted that almost all helicopters of this type can be written off within two to three years. Now there are 2269 of them in Russia. The basis of the Russian helicopter fleet is made up of age machines. More than 75% of domestically produced helicopters, 1135 units, have been in operation for over 25 years. At the same time, the fleet of Mi-8 helicopters for 63% (1120) consists of Mi-8T/P models, discontinued in the mid-1990s.
Russian Helicopters believes that such measures will “accelerate the natural retirement of aviation equipment and lead to a large-scale renewal” of the Russian helicopter fleet. In his letter, Mr. Kazachkov noted that 500 Mi-8T helicopters are actively operated in friendly foreign countries, therefore, untimely restrictions may create reputational risks.
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