UTair CEO Andrey Martirosov announced that 30% of the airline’s helicopter fleet could be shut down if spare parts problems are not resolved.
“We are making a forecast for our fleet – if the situation does not change then there will be a 30% stoppage. I think the situation is not better for other operators, ”said at the HeliRussia helicopter industry exhibition (quoted by RIA Novosti).
As Martirosov clarified, the most serious shortcoming is felt in helicopter engines.
It is valid for foreign helicopters as well as for domestic helicopters whose engines are not domestic,” he said.
Due to the lack of units and components, the company is losing revenue and “customers are finding other solutions,” complained the UTair president.
UTair’s subsidiary UTair Helicopter Services has more than 300 helicopters in its fleet. These include the 158 and seven Mi-26Ts from the Mi-8 family.
forced repair
Previously, the holding company of Russian Helicopters banned the extension of the service life of old Mi-8 and Mi-26 helicopters, so more than 1,000 aircraft could be canceled in the next two to three years.
“Now the idea of Russian Helicopters is to replace the tail end beams of the Mi-8 family when a certain flight time is reached. So, what do Russian Helicopters think? If we put up such a protective barrier, then we will all stop flying old helicopters and rush to buy new ones. “Especially the Mi-26 helicopters they sold to us for $40 million or more,” Martirosov said.
The head of UTair expressed confidence that due to the bans, the cost of the new Mi-26 will eventually increase by 2-2.5 times, and helicopter companies will have to increase the cost of their services. “The raid will immediately be reduced by 2.5-3 times. Mi-26 helicopters flew around Russia about 5 thousand hours a year – everything will immediately drop to 1.5-2 thousand hours a year, ”says.
Sanctions against the Russian Federation
Following the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the United States and several other countries imposed sanctions on Russia, which, among other things, restricted Russia’s imports of weapons, computer chips, aircraft parts, and other goods. April 3 US Department of Commerce elongated Six more months of export restrictions for Russian airlines Utair and AzurAir.
However, the New York Times, citing customs documents informsLast year, at a time when restrictive measures were already in place, millions of dollars’ worth of spare parts were imported into Russia for aircraft manufactured by Boeing, Airbus and other companies. The newspaper claims Aeroflot, Rossiya, Pobeda, Ural Airlines, S7 and UTair are the last buyers. Goods were shipped through intermediaries, including the Middle East and Asia, according to the NYT.