Sanctions have Left Aeroflot ‘a Shadow of Its Former Self’ and on the Way to a Status like Iranian Carriers

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 23 – To avoid having planes that it has leased being confiscated on landing in foreign countries, Aeroflot has reduced the number of countries it still flies to from 56 to 13 and will soon have to find middlemen or cannibalize its existing aircraft to get necessary parts to keep its remaining “clean” (that is, unleashed) planes flying.

            As a result, Christopher Grenville, a London-based specialist on the airline industry says, Aeroflot has been reduced to “a shadow of its former self” and is rapidly on its way to occupying a position much like that of Iran, a country which because of sanctions doesn’t having landing rights in many countries or the spare parts it needs (ehorussia.com/new/node/25981).

            While Aeroflot and other Russian carriers can still operate within the Russian Federation and Belarus where long fleets are still the rule, Moscow’s one proud presence in the international air carrier industry is rapidly coming to an end, something that will also take the country years to recover from even if and when sanctions are ended.