RuAviation

From the registry of the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) 28 more ships of Russian airlines have been removed. This was reported April 12 by Izvestia with reference to the Director General of the Bermuda aviation regulator Thomas Dunstan.

The official said that a total of 229 aircraft were deregistered on March 31, 2023, of which 201 had been deregistered by early December 2022. Planes deregistered are either still flying in the fleets of Russian airlines or have been removed by Western leasing companies in connection with the sanctions and subsequently de-registered in Bermuda.

“A significant number of deregistered aircraft (about 100) belong to VTB Leasing and State Transport Leasing Company (STLC),” Thomas Dunstan specified. In this case, 477 planes remain registered in Bermuda, which are operated by Russian air carriers. Only few of them belong to the Russian lessors or their affiliates, Dunstan added. However, he did not name specific airlines that operate de-registered planes.

On March 13, 2022, the BCAA suspended the airworthiness certificates of aircraft of Russian airlines registered in Bermuda. The sanctions against Russia have limited the BCAA’s ability to supervise the safety of Russian aircraft. As a result, the regulator cannot assert with certainty that these aircraft are airworthy, the BCAA memorandum stated.

On March 16, 2022, by order of the Russian government, the agreement with BCAA, which has been in force since 1999, on the supervision of aircraft with Bermuda registration was suspended. This made it possible to create conditions for the registration of civil aircraft in the state register of the Russian Federation and remove risks for passenger air travel.

“The decision was made in connection with the actions of the aviation authorities of Bermuda in respect of the Russian airlines to cancel certificates of airworthiness of civil aircraft and the failure to maintain the aircraft. The transfer of planes to the Russian state register will enable Rosaviatsia to monitor the maintenance of their airworthiness instead of foreign regulators,” the government reported at the time.