Airbus has joined Boeing in halting the supply of aircraft parts and services to Russian airlines, squeezing its aviation industry amid the invasion of Ukraine.
The European aerospace firm said on Wednesday it was suspending support and delivery of spare parts, in line with international sanctions.
Boeing stopped work with Russian airlines on Tuesday night after Joe Biden announced further US sanctions against Moscow, following Britain and the EU in banning Russian planes from its airspace.
The Seattle-based manufacturer said: “We have suspended major operations in Moscow and temporarily closed our office in Kyiv. We are also suspending parts, maintenance and technical support services for Russian airlines.
“As the conflict continues, our teams are focused on ensuring the safety of our teammates in the region.”
Boeing and Airbus were unwilling to predict how halting the supply of parts would affect Russian aviation in the short and medium term. The two manufacturers’ plane account for almost two-thirds of the Russian fleet – 332 Boeing and 304 Airbus aircraft. While maintenance and repair of all aircraft in service is routine and ongoing, the impact is unlikely to be immediate unless critical parts fail.
Western leasing firms will also attempt to repossess jets operated by Russian carriers, with 515 planes leased from foreign companies, according to the aviation and air travel data company Cirium.
Analysts said leased planes on the ground in Russia could be cannibalised to keep others flying. Peter Walter, of the industry consultant IBA, told Reuters: “Because parts are limited, we will expect to see aircraft that are on the ground in Russia being robbed in order to keep the remainder of the fleet operational.”
Sanctions will block the delivery of 37 new planes to Russian airlines this year, comprised mostly of Boeing’s relicensed 737 Max model, with 25 due to go to Utair. A further 25 planes are on order, according to IBA, including 13 of Airbus’s wide-body A350 model set for Aeroflot, Russia largest airline.
Airbus was on Wednesday deciding whether it could continue to keep open its Moscow engineering centre to keep providing services to Russian customers. Some work has been suspended temporarily at the centre. Known as ECAR, it was set up as a joint venture with Russian firms and investors in 2003 and employs 200 Russian engineers.
The German maintenance group Lufthansa Technik also said it had stopped serving Russian customers.
The developments will leave Russian aviation increasingly isolated. Russia’s aviation industry is significant, accounting for about 6% of flights worldwide last year during the pandemic, although almost nine in 10 Aeroflot flights were internal.
Firms in other sectors, meanwhile, have continued to announce their withdrawal from Russian ventures. The energy group ExxonMobil said it would not invest in new developments in Russia because of the attack on Ukraine.
ExxonMobil also said it would start taking steps to exit the Sakhalin-1 project, the vast oil and gas fields it operates for an international consortium on the island on the far north-east of Russia.
It follows competitors in stopping joint operations with Russia, with Shell severing ties with Gazprom and BP offloading its stake in Rosneft.
