Rossiya to lease five more Boeing 777s

The aircraft leased from AerCap were previously operated by Emirates (Photo by Rossiya Airlines)

Rossiya Airlines, a part of Aeroflot Group, is adding five more 777-300ERs to its wide body fleet that already includes seven aircraft of the type. Earlier, Rossiya exploited aircraft from the fleet of the now-defunct Transaero, but the new ones were previously operated by Emirates and are leased from Irish lessor AerCap.

According to open sources all aircraft (s.n. 32706, 32709, 32715, 32730, 32710) are set for delivery were built between 2005 and 2006. The final decision on financing the transaction will be made at the Aeroflot’s board meeting, scheduled for October 17. The parent company’s board of directors is supposed to formulate its position regarding the deal and decide whether to provide guarantees for its subsidiary.

At the same time the board will review early phasing out of a less spacious Boeing 777-200ER, one of the two of the type, which Rossiya inherited from its sister company OrenAir after their merger.

Rossiya will continue to receive aircraft from Transaero’s former fleet. However, as reported earlier, there are delays in delivery schedule for these aircraft. In March the carrier explained that the reason for the delay is absence of some necessary documentation on the aircraft, which impedes their timely maintenance and airworthiness procedures.

To ensure that Rossiya disposes of long-haul aircraft, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a respective decree, instructing the lessors to streamline the delivery process. VEB-Leasing has completed the procedures before time. VTB-Leasing and Sberbank-Leasing are expected to complete deliveries by December 2016.