Boeing and Airbus, the world’s largest commercial aircraft manufacturers, have decided to suspend technical support for their Russian customers, in line with the growing boycott of the country after the military invasion of Ukraine.
The reflection of the joint movement could be quite large as the Russian aviation sector is heavily dependent on commercial jets from the West. According to Cirium, there are more than 500 aircraft leased by foreign lessors in the country.
The two planemakers will no longer ship spare parts and provide maintenance and technical support services, in a similar measure to North Korea and Iran, but on a much larger scale as Russia accounts for about 6% of world air traffic.
The sanctions come in line with the closing of airspace to Russian aircraft, which the United States joined on Tuesday. ADS-B flight tracking applications already show less aircraft movement over Russia in recent days.
According to analysts, the tendency is for part of the western aircraft to be grounded to serve as a source of spare parts, reducing the availability of the fleet.
In addition, Boeing announced that it will stop its main operations in Russia, where it has a research and engineering center in aerostructure design. Airbus, meanwhile, confirmed on Wednesday that its Russian engineering center has been put on hold.
