EU Flight Ban Leaves Russian-Owned Aircrafts Across German Airports
More than three years after the EU banned Russian flights in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, several Russian-owned aircraft remain stranded at German airports.
The Gaze reports this, referring to Deutsche Welle.
Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport confirmed that the planes were grounded under an EU decree issued on February 28, 2022.
The restrictions have left cargo and passenger jets idle in Leipzig, Cologne, and Frankfurt, with some still under investigation to determine their exact ownership.
Among the most notable are three Antonov AN-124 cargo aircraft operated by Russian freight carrier Volga-Dnepr, parked at Leipzig-Halle Airport.
At Cologne-Bonn Airport, a Boeing 737 belonging to cargo airline Atran and a Bombardier Challenger 300 owned by UTair remain immobilized.
In Frankfurt-Hahn, a Boeing 747, formerly operated by the UK’s CargoLogicAir, has been grounded since the company collapsed into bankruptcy in 2022 as a result of the sanctions.
A Russian-operated Airbus A320, once held at Munich Airport, departed for Ostrava, Czechia, in June 2022 after its Irish-Chinese leasing company paid €470,000 in outstanding airport fees.
The seizures are part of a wider impact on Russia’s aviation sector. Western sanctions have disrupted access to foreign-made aircraft parts, crippling maintenance for key models.
As of mid-November, Russian airlines had grounded more than half of their Airbus A320neo and A321neo fleets due to difficulties servicing U.S.-made Pratt & Whitney engines.
Earlier this year, analysts reported that Russia’s aircraft manufacturers had delivered just one of 15 planned commercial jets, as sanctions and high interest rates stifle production and investment.
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