Aircraft leasing giant casts doubt on renting to Russian airlines again after Putin seizes planes

An Airbus A321-211 aircraft of Russian airline Aeroflot with registration VP-BOE is pictured on a long term parking at Cointrin airport in Geneva, Switzerland, March 9, 2022.

The CEO of major aircraft-leasing company Avolon accused Russia ofrobbery after several leased planes were seized by the government.

Domhnal Slattery, the executive of the company, said that the incident would have a lasting impact on the company's relationship with the country.

He said that there is no chance of getting those back right now.

Hundreds of planes are in Russia and Western aircraft leasing companies are trying to recover them. They were required under sanctions because of Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Putin signed a law that would allow the country's carriers to fly the planes domestically and re-register them, which will make it harder for foreign owners to recover their planes. Some $10 billion worth of foreign-owned jets that were leased to Russian carriers are stuck in the country.

It's just a robbery. They stole the airplanes. Slattery said it was incomprehensible.

Avolon has 14 planes in Russia and has recovered four of them. Slattery said it has a net exposure of $200 million. The firm had more than 800 planes as of the end of last year.

Slattery said that it will be a very long time if ever that we would have appetite for incremental exposure in Russia.

According to aviation data and consulting firm Cirium, Rented planes are important for Russia's fleet of more than 970 planes with about 500 managed by a foreign owner.

The crisis in Russia will have an impact on the insurance market.

AerCap, which is based in Dublin, will hold a call to discuss results on Wednesday.