The European Commission has banned 21 Russian airlines due to “safety concerns” after Russia forced the re-registration of foreign-owned aircraft.
The commission said the Russian government’s move to re-register these aircraft, which has been made in response to sanctions from the EU and other countries following the invasion of Ukraine, meant Russia was “knowingly allowing their operation without valid certificates of airworthiness”.
The 21 Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, have now been added to the EU Air Safety List of carriers subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU.
Adina Valean, the EU’s commissioner for transport said: “The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency has allowed Russian airlines to operate hundreds of foreign-owned aircraft without a valid Certificate of Airworthiness.
“The Russian airlines concerned have knowingly done so in breach of relevant international safety standards. This is not only a clear breach of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Chicago Convention), but it also poses an immediate safety threat.
“We are living in the context of Russia's unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine. However, I want to make it crystal clear that this decision is not another sanction against Russia; it has been taken solely on the basis of technical and safety grounds. We do not mix safety with politics.”
Russian airlines have already been prohibited from using EU airspace since the start of the Ukraine war in late February. Russia responded by banning EU-based airlines from its airspace including overflying to destinations in northern Asia, which has forced carriers to reroute some services to avoid Russia.