Aircastle has written off the value of 13 aircraft that it has remaining in Russia, according to its financial report for the fourth quarter of 2021.
The American lessor had 12 aircraft on lease with six Russian airlines and one aircraft on lease with a Ukrainian carrier. These 13 aircraft comprised 6% of the lessor’s net book value. However, due to uncertainty in the wake of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, the lessor has taken an aircraft impairment charge of US$252 million, which was reflected in its Q4 2021 report.
“We repossessed two aircraft from one of our former Russian customers and we are tirelessly working on the remaining aircraft,” Mike Inglese, CEO of Aircastle, said.
However, Inglese added that “it is unclear whether we will be able to recover the remaining aircraft or what the condition will be at the time of repossession or whether we will be able to recover the related technical records and documentation”.
On April 22, 2022, Air Lease Corporation (ALC) also said it would write-off the value of 27 aircraft stranded in Russia. The US$802 million worth of write-off will be reflected in the company’s first quarter of 2022 financial report, which will be released on May 5, 2022, the lessor said.
Russia started to re-register aircraft following sanctions imposed on the aviation industry over its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The sanctions include a ban on the sale and lease of aircraft to Russian airlines.
Russia has re-registered 360 aircraft since the start of March 2022, according to new data from consultancy IBA.