"Kommersant" learned about the attempts of "Rostec" to return the advance for undelivered Airbus

The leasing subsidiary of the Rostec state corporation, Aviacapital Service (AKS), wants to recover $200 million in advance from the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus for aircraft not delivered due to sanctions, Kommersant writes. The corresponding lawsuit, according to the publication, was filed on December 13 in the Moscow Arbitration Court.

We are talking about the delivery of 17 long-haul wide-body A350s. AKC signed a corresponding agreement in 2015 and planned to lease the aircraft to Aeroflot. Not a single aircraft was ever delivered, the newspaper points out.

Since 2007, Aeroflot has had a contract with Airbus for the supply of 22 A350 aircraft, and it managed to receive seven. The first one was transferred from STLC (State Transport Leasing Company) in March 2020, the last one was received in February 2022. In total, the airline was going to receive 39 liners of this model to replace the Boeing 777 in its fleet.

Aeroflot did not report attempts to recover the transferred advances and does not comment on the possibility of filing a lawsuit, the newspaper writes.

In August, Azimut announced the suspension of the contract for the supply of Airbus aircraft. In 2022, the airline planned to receive four such aircraft. The general director of the company, Pavel Ekzhanov, pointed out that the lessor refuses to return the advance payment for Airbus aircraft, but Azimut continues to try to return the funds.

According to Kommersant, one Airbus A330 was ordered by iFly. A company source said the upfront payment was "just under $1 million." Before the imposition of sanctions, the carrier refused the order of the A3210Neo Smartavia, but it was not possible to return the deposit, according to the newspaper.

After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the EU banned the supply of aircraft and spare parts to Russia. After that, the largest leasing companies began to withdraw aircraft from Russia. In March, President Vladimir Putin signed a law on the possibility of registering the rights to foreign aircraft leased by Russian companies.