Global aircraft operating leasing company BOC Aviation has accepted a financial settlement from an insurance company for planes it owns that have been left stranded in Russia.
BOC Aviation confirmed on November 10, 2023, that it had received a “cash payment of approximately $208 million” under an agreement with the Russian insurance company, NSK.
BOC Aviation had leased eight aircraft to Pobeda, a subsidiary low-cost airline of the Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot. An additional aircraft managed (but not owned) by BOC Aviation was also resolved.
In line with the agreed settlement, BOC Aviation has brought its claim against NSK to an end. The nine aircraft will subsequently be handed over to the Russian state insurance firm.
Reuters reports Aeroflot has claimed in a statement that it will continue to settle claims with lessors over foreign-owned aircraft.
In a statement by BOC Aviation, the lessor said: “The company will continue to pursue all opportunities for the recovery of the full value of all aircraft detained in Russia from all available sources but is unable at present to ascribe a value to any such potential future recovery.”
In April 2023, A United States (US) judge ordered Volga-Dnepr Group to pay aircraft lessor BOC Aviation more than $400 million after the Russian-based company defaulted on the leases of three Boeing 747-8Fs.
Then, in September 2023, lessor AerCap announced that it had received a cash settlement of $645 million for 17 aircraft and five engines leased to Aeroflot, including its subsidiary Rossiya Airlines.
Aircraft leased to Russian airlines became stranded in the country when Moscow refused to release them in the wake of Western sanctions implemented due to the invasion of Ukraine.