Russia loses a total of 78 aircraft because of sanctions

Russian airlines have finally lost a total of 78 aircraft due to Western sanctions, the head of the Ministry of Transport, Vitaly Savelyev said, TASS reports.

According to the minister, Russia's air carriers have lost 78 out of 1,367 aircraft. All of them were arrested abroad.

Savelyev also clarified that as many as 800 airliners had already been transferred to the Russian register.

In early March, the Federal Air Transport Agency recommended that Russian airlines that use aircraft of foreign registries in their fleets should suspend all flights abroad. The recommendation was associated with a high degree of risk of detention or arrest of Russian aircraft abroad.

Later, the Ministry of Transport developed a draft government decree that could help maintain a fleet of foreign-made aircraft in the country, despite Western sanctions. Thus, it was proposed to allow the return of foreign aircraft to lessors provided an approval from a special government commission on import substitution, which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.