Intelligence has revealed the extent of the crisis in the Russian aviation industry

The state-owned corporation "Rostec" plans to consolidate the following companies into a single holding company under the management of "Ilyushin Finance Co." the passenger airline Red Wings, the cargo carrier SkyGates, the medical aviation division, and the leasing company Aviakapital-Service into a single holding company. 

According to Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, under the pretext of centralizing management and creating a unified maintenance system, the Kremlin aims to consolidate the financial reporting of these assets and conceal their actual losses.

The industry is suffering from a shortage of engines and spare parts, protracted repairs, and an exodus of specialists, which is preventing airlines from fulfilling their scheduled flight plans. The SZRU emphasizes that the artificial merger of companies will merely redistribute depleted resources, but will not be able to compensate for the lack of Western components, accelerate Russian mass production of aircraft, or solve the problem of an aging fleet amid technological isolation.

Source: SZRU.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reports that Russia’s civil aviation has reached a critical point of degradation. Due to international sanctions and a lack of access to certified maintenance and original spare parts, Russian airlines are forced to resort to questionable methods to keep their aircraft in the air.

Due to sanctions and related accidents, Russian airlines have had to ground 58 passenger aircraft over the past year.