Russian airline Aeroflot announced Saturday the suspension of its international flights from March 8, when Moscow is hit hard by Western sanctions in connection with Ukraine.
This decision is due to the new "
circumstances that hamper the operation of flights
", the company said in a statement, adding that domestic connections and with Belarus would be maintained.
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The gendarme of the Russian aviation, Rossaviatsia, for his part indicated that he had "
recommended
" to the Russian companies operating rental planes registered outside the country to stop flights abroad in order to avoid the seizure of the devices.
“
This recommendation is the consequence of the very high risk of immobilization or confiscation of aircraft from Russian companies abroad
,” he added.
Flights to foreign countries must cease at 10 p.m. on Saturday, and those from abroad on Monday at 10 p.m., specifies Rossaviatsia.
Stopping the supply of spare parts
The West has imposed drastic sanctions in the air transport sector, closing their spaces to Russian planes and stopping the supply of spare parts in particular to Boeing and Airbus, in the wake of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
Russian companies risk having some of their planes withdrawn: three-quarters of them belong not to companies but to lessors, according to the database of the specialized publication Aviation Week.
If a quarter of these renters are Russian, almost half are European.
The scope of the sanctions "
allows all planes owned by EU owners to enter the European Union
", indicated a European official at the beginning of the week, saying that he was in this regard "
in contact with several leasing companies in Ireland
", where many of them are located.
The Russian company S7, the second in the country, announced on Friday that it would cease all flights abroad.
