The Russian Ministry of Transport has prepared a draft government decree that allows the maintenance and repair of foreign aircraft using non-original spare parts manufactured "according to the procedures of countries that are leading in the global aviation community." What kind of countries, the department does not specify.
An aviation expert, who requested anonymity, told The Insider that such a measure would inevitably reduce the level of flight safety and is a "belated step" by the Russian authorities, who are trying to "save the remnants of Russian civil aviation." According to him, it will most likely be possible to import according to this document and use it in repairs "everything in a row – as it meets the requirements of the Federal Air Transport Agency."
According to a document published by the Ministry of Transport, the project should negate the effects of Western sanctions, due to which Russia can no longer buy certified aircraft parts abroad. The agency indicates that there is no time to launch its own production (it exceeds the life of many components). Therefore, it is proposed to allow aircraft to be repaired with non-original spare parts.
At the same time, the document refers to non-original spare parts made according to certain certification procedures. On paper, we are talking about the procedures Part Manufacturer Approval (PMA), European Part Approval (EPA), Technical Standard Orders Authorization (TSOA).
As the expert explained to The Insider, the practice of using such components has been used in the world for a long time: “The certification system for non-original spare parts was created in the USA by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) several decades ago. It's about PMA . By analogy, it has long been implemented in many countries, including China.”
“That is, the same China for Airbus and Boeing itself has developed and has been producing basic consumables for many years, for example, brake discs and tires. In Russia, the aviation authorities only in March were forced to think about the introduction of such a system and began to develop rules. However, in fact, they now rather want to install Iranian spare parts, and not try to enable Russian manufacturers to make these spare parts. This will certainly reduce the level of flight safety in Russia.”
In July, it became known that Russia plans to buy spare parts for aircraft from Iran. The countries decided to sign a memorandum of cooperation, according to which the export of components manufactured in Iran to the Russian Federation is possible. At the same time, Iran itself is under sanctions (softer in this area), and aircraft parts are imported there, including through parallel imports. According to the aviation expert, the planes in Iran are “almost the oldest in the world”, while Aeroflot “boasts of the youngest fleet of planes – and now this is a big minus. Shit and sticks are not enough to keep them airworthy."
“Iran has its own system, which is based on a very simple principle. If the supplier country is higher than Iran in the ICAO flight safety rating, then Tehran buys spare parts from there without looking. In Russia, they have already relied on China in terms of non-original spare parts, in Iran these spare parts are in the gray zone: China “dumped” far from the highest quality, and expensive, into Iran. Because of this, Iran has had and still has problems with flight safety. I do not rule out that a similar situation will be in Russia,” the expert explains.
According to him, the document developed by the Ministry of Transport can be used in practice to buy spare parts not only from Iran or China, but from everyone who is ready to sell something.
“Our “valiant” aviation authorities of the Russian Federation will approve everyone in a row as meeting the requirements of the Federal Air Transport Agency, including manufacturers from Africa. This has already happened within the framework of the government decree of May 9, where the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Ministry of Transport allowed (under the personal responsibility of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin) to take any original spare parts with any airworthiness documents, including those issued by the “reliable” Egyptian aviation authorities. Although before that it was possible only with documents from the aviation authorities of the USA, Europe and Canada. In fact, now the same thing has been done for non-original spare parts. If spare parts are made from elephant tusks in Africa, then they can also be bought according to these rules. Flight safety is being sacrificed.
Last year, Russia set a world anti-record for the number of aviation accidents. Such a belated policy of the leadership suggests that they themselves do not fully understand how and what to do in order to save the remnants of Russian civil aviation. This is a consequence of the fact that for almost the past 15 years, the Russian aviation authorities have not been responsible for the safety of flights of almost all civil aircraft that were registered outside of Russia, ”says the expert.
In August, Reuters, citing sources, reported that Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, had begun disassembling the planes. All in order to provide them with spare parts, which, due to sanctions in connection with the war in Ukraine, can no longer be bought abroad. Most of the Russian air fleet is western passenger aircraft.
In September, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is part of the UN structure, gave Russia a “red flag” based on the results of a flight safety audit due to the double registration of aircraft leased by Russian airlines.
In October, Russia was not included in the ICAO Council. In the words of an expert interviewed by The Insider, “No one will have a state on the board that has such a low level of safety and airworthiness of aircraft that they have been given a red flag.”