GT's Radar: Safety Of Russian Airlines Questioned

This week GT's Radar talks about the safety of Russian Airlines, with AirlineRatings.com taking the view that it is no longer safe to fly

Geoffrey Thomas

By Geoffrey Thomas Tue Mar 28, 2023

This week GT's Radar talks about the safety of Russian Airlines, with AirlineRatings.com taking the view that it is no longer safe to fly on these airlines because of sanctions and the downgrade of the country's safety ranking.

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On GT's Radar Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas explains that “Russian airlines have run out of spare parts and are being forced to split their fleets into flying and grounded and cannibalize parts from the grounded planes.”

“Also, the insurance on the flying assets is now void,” Mr Thomas said.

“Last month the Russian government legalized the cannibalization of aircraft for parts and this is making experts nervous”

Website Poltitico.eu cited Richard Aboulafia, director of U.S.-based AeroDynamic Advisory, who raised safety concerns.

“I wouldn’t feel at all confident flying on a plane in a country that was no longer keeping public maintenance records and was subject to sanctions by the producer countries. I just wouldn’t,” he told the website.

Also last year Patrick Ky, the EU’s top aviation safety official, expressed concern that Russia is using Western-made planes without access to spare parts and proper maintenance, calling the situation “very unsafe.” 

Airlineratings.com was developed to provide everyone in the world with a one-stop shop for everything related to airlines, formed by a team of aviation editors, who have forensically researched nearly every airline in the world.

Our rating system is rated from one to seven stars on safety – with seven being the highest ranking. Within each airline, you will find the country of origin, airline code, booking URL and seat map information. The rating system takes into account a number of different factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies, lead associations, as well as the airlines, own safety data. Every airline has a safety rating breakdown so you can see exactly how they rate.

Over 360 of the airlines on the site that carry 99 per cent of the world’s passengers have a product rating. Given that low-cost, regional and full-service carriers are so different we have constructed a different rating system for each which can be found within each airline

Airlineratings.com has information on over 30 types of aircraft from the latest Boeing 787 to the A380 and smaller jets.

Best of all, there are simple answers to many of the quirky questions including:

  • “What are all those noises after takeoff and before landing?”
  • “Why do you have to put the window shades up for landing and takeoff?”
  • “What is a winglet and what is it for?
  • “Why is it so costly to fly short distances?”
  • “How often is an aircraft maintained?
  • “How strong is a wing?”
  • “How do they test aircraft”
  • “How often do plane tyres need to be replaced?”

Have questions or want to share your thoughts?

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