Russia asks Vietnam for aircraft wet lease as grounded fleet deteriorates

Russia has asked Vietnam to lease passenger aircraft with crews and maintenance support as its re-registered Western fleet continues to deteriorate. Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin said Moscow had proposed that Vietnamese carriers transfer aircraft to Russian airlines under a wet lease arrangement, and that Hanoi was studying the request. The proposal comes as nearly a fifth of the largest Russian airlines' planes are grounded.

Sponsored

The request is tied to the strain on Russia's commercial aviation sector after sanctions imposed following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow passed a law that year allowing airlines to re-register more than 400 foreign-leased Western aircraft domestically rather than return them to their owners. Under international aviation rules, a single aircraft cannot be registered in two places at once, making those re-registrations legally contested.

The row has also left Russia dependent on parts and technical support that are no longer available through normal Western channels. The proposed wet lease would involve aircraft, crews, maintenance and insurance, and would likely rely on Western-built jets because Vietnam's main carrier operates only Airbus and Boeing aircraft. That creates the same secondary sanctions risk that led Ethiopia to reject a similar proposal, with companies potentially exposed to US penalties for helping operate sanctioned aircraft types for a Russian carrier.

The report said approaches to other countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East have so far produced no result. The aviation dispute has wider significance because it shows how sanctions are affecting the practical operation of Russia's airline fleet. Before the invasion, roughly 850 of Russia's 900 commercial aircraft were made by Boeing or Airbus, and about 85% were leased from foreign companies.