In just one day, on October 2, three airliners of a Russian airline broke down. "Aeroflot"

Passengers from Phuket were unable to return to the Russian capital, and Muscovites were unlucky to fly to Turkey due to the breakdown of three planes on the same day. Why planes break down in the Russian Federation, and how carriers get out of a difficult situation.

How reports The Moscow Times, Boeing 777 was unable to take off from Phuket to Moscow due to damage to the landing gear. True, the Russian company blamed the ground services staff at the Thai airport for what happened – they allegedly damaged the plane’s landing gear during preparation for the flight’s departure. The flight was cancelled, passengers were provided with food and drinks, and redirected to other flights, writes RBC.

On the same day, 400 passengers traveling to Turkey had to endure a double ordeal. tells Shot. First, the engine of an Aeroflot plane that took off caught fire, and it was urgently returned to the airport. But the people’s tests did not end there – a breakdown was also discovered in the second plane, which they tried to fix within an hour and a half with passengers on board. But to no avail, the plane did not take off for Antalya.

As a result, passengers were able to fly to Turkey with an eight-hour delay, only on Monday morning. As compensation, they were given coupons worth 600 rubles.

The publication draws attention to the fact that planes of Russian airlines began to break down twice as often, including during flight. From January to August 2023, more than 120 such incidents were recorded, while in the previous five years, an average of no more than 55 occurred during the same period.

The most common breakdowns are engines (30%) and chassis (25%). Problems occur with the brakes, flaps, air conditioning system and windshield (about 3-6% of cases for each of the above).

As of April 2022, of the 817 foreign aircraft owned by Russian airlines, at least 72 (9%) had already experienced at least one breakdown. Each of them was repaired by uncertified services using spare parts of unknown origin. One source of parts could be the “cannibalization” of aircraft. By January 2023, about 25–30% of the fleet had been dismantled for spare parts.

Last week, the Russian Federation announced the lack of professionalism of civilian pilots and gave them a month for retraining.

Mostly Russian airlines fly Airbus and Boeing aircraft, which are prohibited from doing business in the Russian Federation. More than 40% of these aircraft were owned by foreign leasing companies that did not get their property back after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Most of the jets continue to fly, although cut off from critical software updates and maintenance needed to ensure their airworthiness.

It is worth noting that in Russia they began to hide aircraft malfunctions. In particular, the Russian airline Aeroflot has issued an internal order according to which senior flight attendants must enter data on technical failures and malfunctions of cabin equipment in the Cabin Log Book only after agreement with the aircraft commander. The same practice is common in other airlines.

As a result, The Moscow Times states, planes often fly out of order. It was also reported that Aeroflot pilots began to disable failed brakes due to the impossibility of replacing them. According to a former Nordwind airline pilot, many carriers began to fly relying on “Russian luck.”

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