Bermuda suspends licences for hundreds of Russian aircraft
- Announcement by Bermuda’s aviation regular could affect more than 700 planes
- Aviation experts said move jeopardises Russia’s ability to operate these aircraft
Bermuda says it is suspending certification of Russian planes licensed in the British overseas territory due to sanctions on Moscow, likely impacting hundreds of Russian commercial aircraft around the world.
The move could have critical effects including the grounding of a significant portion of the Russian fleet, more than 700 of which are believed to be licensed in Bermuda.
“International sanctions on the aviation sector have had a significant impact on the ability to sustain safety oversight on Russian operated aircraft on the Bermuda Aircraft Registry,” the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) said late on Saturday in a statement.
The system has been restricted to such a degree that the BCAA “is unable to confidently approve these aircraft as being airworthy,” the agency said.
As of late March 12, “the BCAA has provisionally suspended all Certificates of Airworthiness of those aircraft operating under the Article 83bis Agreement between Bermuda and the Russian Federation,” it said.
The announcement is the latest blow to a Russian commercial airlines sector already reeling from punitive measures after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian carrier Aeroflot was banned from the airspace of the entire EU, the United Kingdom and Canada, forcing it to suspend flights to these destinations, while American aviation giant Boeing suspended its support for Russian airlines and its operations in Moscow.