Rosaviatsia asked carriers not to fly to Egypt on 27 planes
Last week, the Federal Air Transport Agency sent telegrams to Aeroflot and Rossiya airlines in which they asked not to operate flights to Egypt on 27 aircraft. The text of the document was read on Monday, January 15, by Izvestia; the authenticity was confirmed by a source in the Federal Air Transport Agency.
“We do not recommend flights to points in the Arab Republic of Egypt from 12:00 on January 12 until a special decision on the following aircraft...” the telegram says.
Aeroflot was recommended not to fly to Egypt on 24 aircraft: ten Airbus A320, nine Boeing 777-300ER, four Airbus A321 and one Airbus A350, and Russia - on three Boeing 737-800, follows from the document.
The Federal Air Transport Agency issued a telegram immediately after receiving information through closed channels about the risks of arresting these aircraft at Egyptian airports, Izvestia’s source in the aviation authorities said.
Both companies currently do not operate flights to Egypt with these aircraft, noted Izvestia’s source in the Federal Air Transport Agency, which was also indicated by data from the FlightRadar24 service.
In addition, Rossiya Airlines also confirmed to Izvestia that the listed aircraft are currently not flying to this country, adding that “this decision does not affect the implementation of the carrier’s production program.”
Izvestia sent a request to Aeroflot.
All 27 aircraft belong to the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK). They are among the 37 planes that are now being illegally seized from the State Transport Leasing Company in the High Court of Ireland. The remaining aircraft are operated by airlines (S7, Aurora and Yamal), which currently do not fly to Egypt, a source in the aviation authorities told Izvestia.
Back on December 19, it was reported that the fleet of foreign aircraft of Russian airlines available for flights abroad could be reduced by 37 aircraft , which belong to the State Transport Leasing Company.
Over the years, these cars were acquired by the European subsidiary of this company - GTLK Europe. Due to the sanctions imposed last spring, it fell under bankruptcy proceedings. All powers of management bodies have been transferred to the liquidators, who “will sell the companies’ property to generate cash flow for the purpose of settlements with creditors,” State Transport Leasing Company reported in June. The list of requirements also included 37 aircraft.
The liquidators initiated a lawsuit in the Irish court with the aim of illegally confiscating these sides from the State Transport Leasing Company, the lessor indicated in December in its application to the arbitration court of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug when filing a claim against the liquidators. They insist both on the invalidity of the mortgage agreements, on the basis of which the aircraft were accepted into the ownership of the leasing company, and on the absence of the organization’s ownership of these aircraft, it follows from the court’s ruling.
Satisfying these requirements will lead to the impossibility of normal operation of aircraft, since they will be delayed at airports around the world, and in a foreign circuit they may be declared hijacked, the State Transport Leasing Company warned in its statement.
On December 14, the High Court of Ireland considered the liquidators’ demands on the merits; its decision was to be announced on the 20th of December, a source in the Ministry of Transport told Izvestia. According to an interlocutor in the aviation authorities, STLC eventually lost the case in the Irish court - it satisfied the demands of the liquidators.