China Closes Airspace to Foreign Russian Airbus and Boeing Aircraft

The Chinese Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) has announced it is closing the country’s airspace to foreign-owned Russian Boeing and Airbus aircraft, which foreign leasing companies own, from flying through its airspace or landing in the country.

Western leasing companies that have terminated their contracts with Russian airlines due to the sanctions imposed on the country own a large portion of Russia’s commercial airline fleet. Airlines have refused to return the planes and have started to re-register them to the Russian aircraft register. In addition to this, Russian civil aviation rules were rewritten in March and May, removing various safety regulations related to the maintenance and certification of aircraft.

In May, the CAAC asked all airlines flying to China to update their electronic dossiers or portfolios, which contain information about the aircraft, airline owners, and the carrier’s ground handling contracts at airports. This is standard procedure by the CAAC and by most regulators worldwide. Russian airlines have not been able to produce these documents. As a result, the Chinese CAAC, observing international ICAO regulations, has denied the operation of these aircraft in their airspace.

Source: Aviation Weekly News