The vast majority of Western aircraft used by Russian airlines have so far been registered in Bermuda and Ireland. That is now changing, as the Bermuda civil aviation authority announced that all Russian operators would have their registrations revoked.

Actually, the Russian aviation registration number is RA, but this is rarely seen on the fuselage of machines built in the West. Dominating are VP-B and VQ-B – Bermuda Islands. There are various reasons for this, because on the one hand airlines can avoid high import taxes, but there was no other way after the collapse of the USSR. The Russian civil aviation authority lacked competence with regard to aircraft from the west, so that an arrangement was made with the British overseas territory of the Bermuda Islands. Registrations in Ireland were added later.

This fact has been a thorn in the side of the Russian government for several years, because they want Russian airlines to register their aircraft domestically. However, international lessors still have a certain distrust of the Civil Aviation Authority, so practice has changed little until a few days ago.

Already 176 aircraft registered in Russia

The ejection from the register of the Bermuda Islands means that the approximately 740 affected machines are de jure not allowed to take off. If the aircraft have not been flown out beforehand, they are now entered in the Russian register at express speed. 176 machines were re-registered, Rosaviatsiya explained to Interfax.

21 aircraft from Utair, 38 from Rossiya, two from Izhavia, one from Yerofei, 27 from Pobeda and 80 from Aeroflot are affected. Also included are the seven Airbus A350s operated by Aeroflot. In the next few days, more machines are to change from foreign registers such as Bermuda and Ireland to that of the Russian Federation.

Meanwhile, Andrey Panov, previously deputy director general of Aeroflot, says he has given up his job and left the country. The carrier did not comment on this, but confirmed that the previous Rossiya boss Sergey Aleksandrovsky was appointed as the new deputy chairman of the board.