Details Emerge on Aircraft Returned to Western Owner Due to Anti-Russian Sanctions

The Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia has clarified which aircraft was returned to its western owner last year due to anti-Russian sanctions in response to a written inquiry. This was reported by Sputnik Armenia.

In early March, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, while speaking in Berlin, stated within the context of the anti-Russian sanctions that a western owner took over an aircraft used by one of the Russian aviation companies from the Republic of Armenia in the spring of last year.

According to the media outlet, the incident refers to events from March 2022, as previously reported. The occurrence took place on March 3. According to the Civil Aviation Committee, the aircraft operated by the Russian airline S7 was halted in Armenia and subsequently returned to its owner based on a letter from the aviation authorities of the aircraft's registration country.

“It should be noted that no seizure was applied to the aircraft, but the flight permission for the said aircraft was temporarily suspended, considering that there was a notification from the aviation authorities of the aircraft's registration country regarding the withdrawal of the aircraft’s airworthiness certificate,” emphasized the committee.

The Civil Aviation Committee also noted that the owner of the aircraft is SMBC Aviation Capital Limited, a Dublin-based leasing subsidiary of the Japanese financial company Sumitomo Mitsui.

It is worth recalling that in early March 2022, news spread that an Airbus A320 aircraft had been detained in Armenia. At that time, Vardan Chilingaryan, the head of the rail, water, and air transport policy department at the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia, declared that the information regarding the detention of the aircraft was not true, but confirmed that a plane had landed in Yerevan, which had subsequent documentation issues related to its flight.

The fact is that anti-Russian sanctions have also impacted aviation. As part of these sanctions, foreign leasing companies have reclaimed aircraft already leased from Russian carriers, regardless of existing contracts.