Vnukovo FBO in Moscow during better days when business jet travel to Russia was relatively free of constraints. (05/01/2023)
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent, ongoing sanctions on the country—designed to weaken President Vladimir Putin’s war economy and his cabal of influential oligarchs—has almost completely sealed off Russian aviation, both business and commercial.
This previously steady market has been devastated, with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) stopping the sale and supply of aircraft and components. The sanctions have made it impossible to trade, service, and support an aircraft with links to a Russian entity anywhere in the world.
Notams, meanwhile, ban Russian-registered aircraft and those types known to be owned or operated by Russian nationals—whatever their connection to Moscow—from entering European airspace or of landing in many countries.
Less than a decade ago, Russia was regarded as one of the great emerging markets for business aviation, along with the likes of China, Brazil, and India—known as the BRIC countries.