Anyone who boards a plane in Russia is prepared for a major risk: Russian planes are twice as prone to errors this year as before the war. In just under a year and a half, the safety of Russian aviation has deteriorated sharply. And even before the war she wasn’t good at it.
It wasn’t until September 12 that an Airbus plane from Ural Airlines had to make an emergency landing in a field in the Novosibirsk region of Siberia. There were 167 people on board the A320 – en route from Sochi on the Black Sea to Omsk in Siberia.
The plane may have had problems with its hydraulics, the region’s governor told state news agency Tass. According to Ural Airlines, the pilot reported the emergency during the flight and took off towards the better-equipped Novosibirsk airport instead of Omsk. However, there was not enough fuel for this, so the machine ended up in a large wheat field with the landing gear extended.
The crew and passengers were lucky: the emergency landing was successful – the fuselage of the aircraft remained intact and there was no fire. All 161 passengers and six crew members were able to leave the plane, with some people suffering minor injuries.
Russians are no longer allowed to fly over Europe
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has had Russia on the “red list” for a year. Only four states currently have this status: Apart from Russia, flying is only so dangerous in Bhutan, Congo and Liberia.
Since the war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU has imposed strict sanctions on Russia’s aviation industry. Russian planes are no longer allowed to fly over European territory, let alone land or take off at airports in the EU.
Some Russian aviation industry executives are on the Brussels sanctions list, including Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot boss Mikhail Poluboyarinov. The sanctions list states that Aeroflot is a “service provider for the Russian government” and an “important source of revenue”. Poluboyarinov is one of the “leading businessmen” in Russia. “Aeroflot offered illegal flights to occupied Crimea.”
From March to October, Aeroflot flies to Simferopol on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. “Today Simferopol is the ‘gateway to Crimea’; all roads and every journey to the region start here,” the airline advertises the destination on its website. Crimea, together with the Black Sea coast, is a popular holiday region for Russians.
Twice as many accidents as in previous years
But flying is extremely dangerous for Russians, according to research by the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europa. In the first eight months of this year, more than 120 aviation accidents involving Russian passenger aircraft occurred. In the same period, an average of 55 accidents were registered between 2018 and 2022.
The number of aviation accidents in Russia is more than 2.2 times higher than in the pre-war period. This year, more aviation accidents took place from January to August than in previous years, Novaya Gazeta Europa calculates.
In Russia, 1,712 people have died in plane crashes since 2000 – more than in any other country in the world. The numbers of terrorist attacks or aircraft hijackings have not been taken into account, writes Novaya Gazeta Europa. Eight out of ten fatal plane crashes in Russia were caused by Russian aircraft.
The chance of dying in such a plane is twenty times higher than in a non-Russian plane.
Many Russian airports are closed
While the number of accidents has increased, the number of flights has fallen sharply. The number of flights this year is a quarter less than the year before the pandemic 2019. Compared to last year, the year the war broke out, the number of flights fell by 13 percent, Novaya Gazeta Europa reports, citing Rosawiazija, the Russian newspaper Air Transport Agency. However, the figures cannot be independently verified and could be even higher.
Many international flights are cancelled. At the same time, eleven Russian airports in the south – near the Ukrainian border – and three of the five terminals at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport are closed, an aviation expert told the Russian newspaper.
Iran offers aid to Russia
In addition, aircraft are increasingly unable to take off due to a lack of spare parts. Boeing and Airbus are also sanctioning the Russians: the aircraft manufacturers no longer supply spare parts for Russian aircraft. Russia’s airlines have been forced to dismantle old machines or obtain spare parts via detours from other countries.
Iran in particular is an ideal candidate for this, but is also on the Western sanctions list. The Russian machines are relatively young: 14.6 years old. However, the Iranians have less experience with modern machines. “Aeroflot prides itself on having one of the lowest average ages in Europe,” an unnamed expert told Novaya Gazeta Europa.
However, the aircraft are also equipped with many electronics, such as control panels, that need to be updated regularly. “Iran is not in a position to cooperate with it. There is a Russian plane that has been in Iran for maintenance for six months.”
Russia now wants to build its own planes, with more than a thousand of them by 2030. Whether that is possible is doubtful. Until then, a plane trip through the largest country in the world will remain a game of fire for every Russian.
(with material from the dpa press agency)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
