Russia on Monday passed a law allowing foreign aircraft leased by its airlines to be added to the country’s domestic register, a move that will increase difficulties for western lessors, who have been scrambling to repossess their planes. The bill, signed by President Vladimir Putin, says it aims to “ensure the uninterrupted functioning of civil aviation and . . . at keeping foreign aircraft with Russian carriers,” according to an update published on the government’s website. The new law comes after regulators in Bermuda, where most of Russia’s foreign-owned commercial jets are registered, said they were suspending airworthiness certificates on the aircraft from Sunday over concerns they were no longer able to guarantee that they were safe. Before western sanctions were imposed, non-Russian lessors had 515 planes in Russia, with a combined market value of close to $10bn, according to data from aviation consultancy Cirium. The Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority said that international sanctions on aviation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have had a “significant impact on the ability to sustain safety oversight on Russian operated aircraft on the Bermuda Aircraft Registry”. Phil Seymour, president at aviation consultancy IBA, said there was “justifiable concern in the industry about the level of compliance in Russia with international aviation law”, adding that there was a risk that “airlines may fly aircraft within Russia, regardless of where they are registered”. “The Bermudans had no choice,” said another industry expert. “Given that the manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, had cut off access to Russian carriers in terms of maintenance and the provision of spare parts, it was logical that Bermuda’s regulator would no longer be able to guarantee the airworthiness of the aircraft.” Story has more.<br/>
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The Dublin-based aircraft leasing arm of Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has notified Russian airlines it is terminating their leases, it said, in line with sanctions against Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine. The move by SMBC Aviation Capital comes after Western sanctions at the end of last month that gave the industry, which controls about half of the world’s airline fleet and provides a vital source of financing, a month to act. “SMBC Aviation Capital continues to carefully monitor developments in Ukraine and is engaged with all relevant authorities,” a spokesperson for the lessor said late on Monday. “The business will fully adhere to all relevant sanctions and we have issued termination notices in respect of all leases with Russian airlines.” SMBC Aviation Capital leases 35 aircraft to Russian airlines Aeroflot, S7 Airlines, Ural Airlines, Nordwind Airlines and Nordstar Airlines, according to the spokesperson. It owns 356 aircraft in total, according to its website. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing Russian airlines to operate leased planes without a foreign certificate, news agency Tass reported on Monday. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.<br/>
The value of bonds backed by aircraft that are trapped in Russia has tumbled this month, as leasing companies struggle to repossess planes rented to Russian airlines. US and European sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prohibit the leasing of aircraft to Russian airlines and existing contracts must be terminated by the end of March. The sanctions have presented a logistical challenge to recover the aircraft that are still in Russia, with Moscow so far signalling its unwillingness to allow the planes to leave the country. Before the sanctions were imposed, non-Russian lessors had 515 planes in Russia with a combined market value of close to $10bn, according to data from Cirium, the aviation consultancy. That figure has since dropped to about 450 to 460 after counting about 50 aircraft that were already being returned and some others that appear to have been returned recently. Rating agencies have warned that the lost income from the leases, alongside the uncertainty over whether the planes can be recovered, have increased risks to bondholders in deals backed by the aircraft. A number of aircraft lessors have used asset-backed securitisation — selling bonds backed by bundles of plane leases to different airlines — to raise funds for their businesses. As the airlines repay their lease, the money flows through to pay interest and principal on the bonds, with higher-rated tranches of debt paid first. One deal from private equity group Carlyle’s aircraft leasing business issued in 2019 includes five planes leased to Russian and Ukrainian airlines, making up more than 30 per cent of the collateral backing the bonds, according to data from Fitch Ratings. The highest-rated tranche traded last week at 62 cents on the dollar, down from more than 90 cents at the end of last year.<br/>
The US TSA has proposed $644,398 in fines for 922 COVID-19 mask violators since February 2021 on commercial flights, in airports and train stations or on public transit services, the government reported on Monday, a dramatic jump in recent months. According to the government report here, all but 44 of the TSA fines were for failing to wear masks as required on airplanes or, less often, in airports. The rest covered unmasked passengers in surface transportation like transit, rail and bus. The agency said it has also issued warnings to more than 2,700 travelers after more than 7,000 reported incidents since the transit mask requirements took effect. In late October, TSA said it had proposed $85,990 in fines for 190 mask violators and issued warnings to more than 2,200. Last week, TSA said it was extending mask requirements at airports and on airplanes through April 18. Since the start of 2021, the FAA has investigated reports of 6,800 unruly airplane passengers including about 4,800 for not wearing masks. It has opened 450 investigations and proposed more than $5m in fines. The TSA fines included $501,388 for 788 onboard air incidents, averaging $636. The TSA has issued 18 civil penalties for not wearing masks at airport checkpoints totaling $57,065 or $3,170 on average, and 160 others at airports totaling $57,795, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said. Another 44 have been issued for surface transportation incidents totaling $28,150.<br/>
The new Terminal 2 at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Berlin is set to commence operations on 24 March. Ryanair will use the new terminal for the first departure. The main user of the new BER terminal will be Ryanair, which will carry out all of its departures from the new terminal in the following days. T2 will be used for maximum arrivals from Ryanair as well as some arrivals from other airlines, starting early April. With a total gross area of 23,000m², the new terminal will be able to accommodate up to 6m passengers per annum. Designed to serve as a check-in building for departures and arrivals, the new terminal is linked to the departure gates in Terminal 1’s Pier Nord through two bridges. A direct connection to TI and T2 is offered by the train station. Both terminals can equally use the multi-storey car parks at the airport. T2 comprises a check-in hall with multiple self-service kiosks. The first floor features modern security checkpoints while the plaza with shops and restaurants is located behind them.<br/>
The UK transport secretary has confirmed that all remaining Covid travel measures will be scrapped. Currently, everyone travelling to the UK must complete a passenger locator form before they arrive. Travellers who are not fully vaccinated have to take a Covid test before departure, fill in the form, and book and pay for a PCR test after arriving. Grant Shapps confirmed in a tweet that these rules will end at 04:00 on Friday. His announcement means that passengers who are not fully vaccinated will no longer have to take Covid tests before and after travelling to the UK. The passenger locator form will no longer be necessary either. People planning an overseas trip will still need to be aware of other countries' entry rules. Shapps tweeted: "These changes are possible due to our vaccine rollout and mean greater freedom in time for Easter." When any new Covid strains appear in the future, the government said its default approach would be to use "the least-stringent measures" for restricting travel. Its "Living with Covid" plan said new measures at the border would only be considered in "extreme circumstances". It said the UKHSA would closely monitor the prevalence and spread of Covid variants.<br/>
A Boeing 737 MAX jet that took off from Seattle on Monday is en route to the manufacturer's completion plant in China, an industry source said, in a sign the model is closer to returning to commercial flights there after a three-year grounding. Flight tracking websites showed the plane, painted in the livery of Shanghai Airlines - a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines - had landed in Hawaii. The source, who was not authorised to speak publicly, said it was the first fuel stop of a multi-day journey. The Zhoushan plant, used for installing interiors before delivery, opened in December 2018, a few months before a second fatal MAX crash led China to ground the model. "If this points to a delivery, it will be the first MAX delivery to China since March 2019, which is material as the country historically has represented 17% of deliveries," Jefferies analysts said in a note to clients. China, the first country to ground the MAX, is the only major global market where the aircraft is still not in commercial service, and its return is taking longer than expected at a time when domestic demand is declining as COVID-19 cases rise. China's aviation regulator in early December provided airlines with a list of fixes required before its return to commercial flying, which it predicted would occur by the beginning of this year. <br/>