Russia’s Transportation Ministry and S7 Airlines declined offers from Egypt and the Philippines to operate Airbus passenger planes that were grounded due to Western sanctions, the business newspaper Kommersant reported on Wednesday.
Egypt’s AlMasria Universal Airlines and the Philippines’ South East Asian Airlines had sent a request to the Russian government to use up to seven of the grounded Airbus A320neo and A321neo, Kommersant wrote last month.
That offer was sent through MelonAero, a company based in the Balkan country of Montenegro. At the time, MelonAero’s CEO told the newspaper that negotiations were ongoing with other carriers from “friendly” countries and that all of S7’s grounded planes could theoretically be placed in the hands of foreign operators.
However, a spokesperson for S7 told Kommersant this week that the airline company was not engaged in talks about the use of its Airbus planes and had “no intention to negotiate” their transfer to foreign airlines.
An unnamed source at a Russian airline lobby group told the newspaper that the Transportation Ministry considered the proposal as “neither constructive nor feasible.” The ministry has not commented publicly on the report, nor have the Egyptian or the Philippines airlines.
S7 Airlines grounded dozens of its Airbus A320neo and A321neo jets after the engine maker issued a recall over a defect that could cause micro-cracks. Sanctions prevent the aircraft from receiving maintenance or repairs, and the planes are expected to be decommissioned starting in 2026.
In Wednesday’s report, MelonAero’s CEO called Russia’s refusal “unreasonable,” warning that long-term storage could render the planes little more than spare-parts donors.
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