Russian-made liners could also be affected by air sanctions. At least IrAero has said it has problems repairing Superjet engines.
According to a statement issued by RBC, the engines were manufactured by the French-Russian company PowerJet, and the airlines operating the liner warned about the risks of suspension of flights due to Western sanctions.
According to the publication, IrAero CEO Yuri Lapin warned Irkutsk Oblast Governor Igor Kobzev that the airlines operating the Superjet may not be able to repair and maintain the technical suitability of Russian-French SaM146 engines. And the “stop of the park” is promised “in the short term.” The publication claims that this problem has been confirmed by three other carriers.
Moreover, one of them, according to RBC, noted that if the technical support of engines does not improve, it will be necessary to stop the transportation of passengers on these aircraft in the fall of 2022. At the same time, the solutions are as follows: the head of IrAero asked the governor to transfer all authority to repair engines and ship spare parts for them to the United Engine Corporation (UDC; part of the state corporation Rostech). RBC’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the company “is doing everything necessary to provide technical support, repairs, supply of spare parts and services for all engines it produces.”
It should be noted that the program of Russia Airlines from Sochi abroad was announced at Superjet. In addition, the mentioned IrAero announced the start of flights from Domodedovo to Tel Aviv on April 18. “The flight time will be 7 hours and 20 minutes, taking into account the technical stop in Mineralnye Vody,” the carrier said, without specifying the type of liner. But most likely it is also “Superjet”.