Airlines operating Superjet 100 aircraft are facing a shortage of spark plugs from the US, which have been cut due to sanctions. Operators saw this as a risk to the intensity of the flights, RBC reports, citing interlocutors at six airlines.
Rostec, for its part, assures that import substitution is “in full swing” and promises Russian candles this year.
The current situation may lead to the suspension of part of the Superjet fleet in the near future and “a gradual and complete cessation of flights of the entire aircraft fleet,” the publication reports, citing a letter from the First Deputy Director General of IrAero, Vladimir Panfilov, to the Minister of Industry and Trade. The appeal was sent on February 16.
According to Panfilov, “this jeopardizes the implementation of the flight program for the transportation of passengers, including socially significant ones.” However, the CEO of the same airline, in conversation with the publication, was quick to add that “at the moment everything is in order”: the airline has several spare sails.
Pavel Udod, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Azimut Airlines, also talks about a “rather serious” shortage of new spark plugs. Yakutia has no stock of new sails, but there are some used ones left; they should suffice until the end of this year, the sources said.
The Aviatorshchina Telegram channel wrote that even the largest operator of Superjet, Rossiya Airlines (part of Aeroflot), was facing shortages. In spring-summer, the airline will use only 40% of the total Superjet fleet of 76 aircraft. The airline’s press service did not comment on this issue.
A Rostec representative assures that the import substitution of the entire range of products required for the Superjet, including spark plugs, is “in full swing”. The state corporation added that they are “intensively working” to create an analogue of a spark plug and expect results in 2023.
The Ministry of Transport did not comment on the situation.
Author:
anastasia mariana
Source: RB
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