Sanctions may ground Russia's planes, but the firms that own them can't get them back

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/13/ [login to see] /sanctions-may-ground-russias-planes-but-the-firms-that-own-them-cant-get-them-ba
Sweeping economic sanctions appear to be taking a heavy toll on Russia's economy; the ruble has collapsed, companies like Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Boeing have pulled out, and businesses there are struggling.


This includes Russia's airlines, which are now almost entirely flying only domestically and could soon be forced to cut back on that.

But there's a big problem in that most of the planes the Russian airlines fly are leased from Western companies, and the aircraft owners now fear they'll never get their planes back.

Since the end of the Cold War, the aviation industry has become more global than ever, and it is completely interconnected.

"The west relies on China and Russia just as much as they rely on the west," says George Dimitroff, head of valuations for the aviation analytics company Cirium. "And I think these sanctions will probably demonstrate how dependent we are on each other."

Exhibit A is the airplanes now used by Russian airlines.