The most expensive parking ticket in the world

The Airbus A320 only wanted to be in Munich for an hour. It’s been almost 400 days now. Nothing came of the return flight to St. Petersburg, because Germany blocked the airspace for Russian aircraft at the end of February 2022, shortly after the plane landed in Munich. It’s been there for a year now – and the airport is sending bill after bill. But things are moving slowly.

The amount is now 130,000 euros, Robert Wilhelm, spokesperson for Munich Airport, told t-online. Fees of about 350 euros are made per day, which must be paid. But by whom? The airport invoices the Russian airline Aeroflot. But it may be that another player has to step in.

Who pays for the Aeroflot plane in Munich?

Maybe even the taxpayer? After all, it was a political decision to impose sanctions on Russia after the illegal attack on Ukraine and to cut important connections between Germany and the EU with Moscow. Crew and airline were not directly responsible for not being allowed to take off. But Viktor Winkler, a lawyer from Frankfurt who specializes in sanctions law, does not assume that.

Because Aeroflot was not penalized or sanctioned, just hit with a ban. There is therefore no direct legal basis for passing on the payments to another actor. Winkler compares the situation to a recently set 30 zone in road traffic. Anyone who drives 50 there, because that was recently allowed – but no longer – is not allowed to allocate the costs. For example, you have to deal with the flight ban that came into effect when the machine was in Munich.

The situation is different if the sanctions and thus the flight ban were illegal. “But I don’t see much evidence for that,” says Winkler. In the case of legal sanctions, a legal action based on a so-called “special offer” is also possible. This means that individuals can apply for and receive compensation from the state if they experience “unreasonably high disadvantages as a result of measures in the service of the public interest”.

There is still much to do before departure

“But in this case, this proof of a special sacrifice should also be very difficult, at least for the owner of the aircraft, who is only indirectly affected by the flight ban,” Winkler assesses the situation. If they did, it would be up to the Free State of Bavaria to pay the compensation.

The most likely candidate to pay the bill and collect the aircraft after more than a year is the owner. This is a Chinese leasing company, says airport spokesman Wilhelm. They indicated that they wanted to get back the Airbus leased to Aeroflot. Of course, that only works with a new ID. Russian aircraft are still not allowed to fly in European airspace.

Aeroflot plane: first the money, then the permission to fly

But money is not the only problem. After more than a year of standstill, not only fees but also various work are due. To make an aircraft ready to fly again after such a long time on the ground, the machine must be checked and any defects corrected. Wilhelm compares this to Teruel Airport in Spain, where Lufthansa repairs several decommissioned aircraft.

There, a specialized company is working on the parked aircraft. “We are talking about two months, more than 2,500 working hours that we need before the big planes can take off here again,” airport manager “Tagesschau”, Alejandro Ibrahim, was quoted as saying. Something similar could also come to the Aeroflot machine. But first the money has to be transferred. “We will not let the plane take off before then,” Wilhelm clarifies.