Not servicing Russian airlines’ Boeings is more expensive

Havaş, which services aircraft at Turkish airports, has warned Russian airlines that it may stop accepting more than 170 of their Boeing aircraft due to US sanctions. In a late-December-2022 letter, Havaş advised carriers to plan flights to Turkey only with aircraft containing less than 25 percent U.S.-manufactured parts, as these are the only aircraft it is allegedly allowed to service.

On January 26, RBC, citing the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), reported that Washington is trying to pressure Ankara to stop flights to and from Turkey of American-made aircraft, which are owned by foreign leasing companies among others but operated by Russian carriers and were re-registered in Russia in 2022.

According to the newspaper, in December-2022 high-ranking U.S. officials warned of the consequences if Turkish structures provided services to such Russian and Belarusian carriers: for example, refueling of aircraft and replacement of spare parts. Among the possible sanctions are fines, loss of export privileges, imprisonment and other measures.

For now, however, Havaş continues to service Boeing aircraft of Russian airlines. According to FlightRadar, they continue to fly to Turkish airports. In the case of cancellation of services, the company would lose a significant part of the volume, which would seriously affect its profits, as the Russian traffic is very impressive for the Turkish market, writes tg channel Aviatorschina.

According to Cirium, from October 2022 to the end of January 2023, airlines from Russia and Belarus operated more than 2,100 flights to Turkey on Boeing aircrafts. And despite the Havaş warning, Russian airlines are confident of continuing flights to Turkey on American planes and are preparing to increase their numbers in the upcoming summer season.

«In case any restrictions are imposed on our carriers that will lead to a reduction in their number of flights to Turkey, the Ministry of Transport and Rosaviatsia are ready to immediately apply mirror measures to Turkish airlines,» summarizes Aviatorschina.

RBC notes that within two weeks Havaş will be discussing with Russian carriers how to solve the problem and is essentially asking Russian companies to come up with a way to solve it.

«There are four other alternative handling companies operating in Turkey besides Havaş,» an source tells RBC. — If Havaş stops servicing Russian carriers’ planes, they will switch to other companies.