Russia Will Lose More Than 100 Foreign Aircraft In The Coming Years

Russian civil aviation may lose a third of its fleet.

Cut off by sanctions from the ability to buy new airliners and get parts and maintenance for them, Russian airlines could lose dozens of flying airliners in the coming years, The Moscow Times reports.

A pessimistic forecast suggests that by 2030, 109 foreign airplanes could drop out of the carriers' fleets, the head of Rosaviatsia Dmitri Yadrov told a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy.

In total, civil aviation could lose a third of its fleet in the next 6 years, he warned. In addition to Boeing and Airbus, which are gradually going out of service and dismantled for spare parts, 230 domestic aircraft, which are now 40, 50 or even 60 years old, will have to be scrapped.

"According to the pessimistic forecast, until 2030, together with airlines, we count the disposal of about 339 aircraft. In addition, we plan to retire 200 helicopters - 190 domestic helicopters and 10 foreign ones," TASS quoted Yadrov as saying.

According to Rosaviatsia, the fleet of domestic airlines now numbers 1,135 aircraft, of which 1,088 are "on the wing".

To replace Boeing and Airbus, which have become unaffordable, the Russian authorities have launched a large-scale program to revive the aviation industry, aiming to bring the production of civil aircraft to record levels since Soviet times. Back in 2023, domestic aircraft factories were supposed to produce five civilian aircraft, last year add another 40, and this year bring production to 82 units - a level never seen in Russia's modern history.

In reality, in 2022-25, the civil aviation fleet was replenished by only 13 new aircraft - 12 Superjets and one Tu-214, Reuters wrote, citing data from ch-aviation, a Swiss-based aviation data and statistics service. In 2025, out of 15 planned passenger planes, Russian manufacturers were able to deliver only one to carriers.

Faced with a sharp increase in the number of aviation incidents, which last year became the highest for 6 years, Russian aviation authorities are going for desperate measures. Last year, they asked Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait and Qatar to lease planes to cover domestic transportation needs. Moscow voiced a similar request to Ethiopia in 2025 but was turned down. "We operate in accordance with international regulation and U.S. law and are not prepared to take the risks of violating those laws," Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mesfin Tasev said.

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