Westernization of Russian fleet nearing completion

The future of the Russian maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market is intimately related to the types of aircraft in use. Over the last years, Russian air carriers’ fleet has suffered a considerable structural shift — a large-scale introduction of Western types was accompanied by decommissioning of ageing Soviet-built aircraft.

In 2007–2013, Russian companies acquired over 750 airliners, with 700 of them of Western provenance and mere 50 being Russian-built, Andrey Kramarenko, an independent expert, estimates. In 2013, operators replenished their stock with 111 airframes including seven Russian ones. In the same year, 41 aircraft were decommissioned not counting the remaining Soviet types.

Last year, Russian operators took the delivery of 51 Airbus aircraft and 31 Boeing planes. The share of aircraft fresh from jigs has reached 40%, the average age of the airliners on the Russian market dropped from 9.8 down to 6.6 years from 2010 to 2013, Kramarenko notes.