Ukraine crisis: Russian airline Pobeda plans to stop operating 16 aircraft

A unit of the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot, Pobeda will reduce its fleet of 41 aircraft to 25.

Pobeda decided to ground some of its flights in order to ensure flight safety. Credit: Pobeda Airlines, Aeroflot Group.

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Russian low-cost carrier Pobeda airline plans to stop operating 16 of its 41 Boeing B-737-800 jets until the end of this year, in order to deal with Western sanctions in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Kyiv.

Pobeda made this move to ensure flight safety and will reduce its flight fleet from 41 to 25 aircraft, Reuters reported, citing Interfax.

Pobeda acting general director Andrei Yurikov was quoted by Interfax as saying: “To maintain flight safety, we will reduce the fleet to 25 aircraft. The remaining planes will not fly until the end of the year so that the spare parts we have accumulated will last until lost supply chains are restored.”

Pobeda is a low-cost unit of the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot.

Earlier this month, Aeroflot announced that it was temporarily suspending all international flight services from 8 March amid the Ukraine conflict.

Aeroflot’s subsidiaries Rossiya Airlines and Aurora Airlines, along with airline company S7, have also decided to stop their international operations.

Russian charter airline companies Azur Air and Royal Flight have similarly ceased their international operations in light of the Ukraine conflict.

Royal Flight noted that the move to halt its services was in response to the sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU).

Last week, Canadian business jets manufacturer Bombardier announced that it would cancel all plane orders placed by Russian firms or owners due to the sanctions imposed on Russia.

It also decided not to sell spare parts to customers who register or operate their planes in Russia.