Russian MRO provider assists Tajik’s airline with aircraft re-registration

S7 Technics has assisted Somon Air with the transference of its aircraft onto the Bermuda registry (S7 Technics)

Tajikistan’s leading airline Somon Air has transferred two of its Aruba-registered aircraft onto the aircraft registry of the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA).

The S7 Technics’ Engineering centre has assisted the private airline with the transference of the aircraft onto new registry. To complete the assignment, one of Somon’s Boeing 737-900s made a maintenance shop visit to the Russian independent MRO provider’s Domodedovo, Moscow site, while all of the necessary works required on the second aircraft were fulfilled by Russian company’s field crew at Istanbul airport (Turkey).

In both cases, the engineering centre’s experts performed three tasks. The first was a general visual inspection of the aircraft, including comparisons of any acceptable structural damage and repairs on the actual aircraft against its logbook records, and also to ensure that all cabin and emergency equipment items are located in accordance with the appropriate diagrams.

In the second stage, the engineering centre’s experts checked and, where necessary, amended Somon Air’s continued airworthiness documentation to ensure its compliance with BCAA’s requirements.

Finally, full aircraft airworthiness reviews were conducted in order to enrol Somon Air’s Boeing 737-900s on the Bermuda aircraft register. The reviews’ subsequent reports provide summaries on the airworthiness documentation checks and visual inspection of the aircraft in compliance with BCAA’s requirements.

The engineering centre is able to provide such assistance to Somon Air because S7 Engineering (part of S7 Technics holding) holds BCAA’s OTAR 39 Subpart F approval and already has extensive successful experience in carrying out such continued airworthiness checks in support of Russian and international airlines.

“This was the first time that our group has provided support services for transferring aircraft between registries. All operations were made in close cooperation with Somon Air and with BCAA, and were supported by S7 Engineering’s quality directorate, which allowed us to complete the mission within the required tight schedule,” comments Leonid Shoshin, head of S7 Technics’ Engineering centre.

To complete the project, the new VQ-registration numbers for Somon Air’s Boeing 737-900s were painted on their tails at Domodedovo, before both aircraft were returned to service with the Tajikistani carrier.

Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority has long been the preferred registration jurisdiction for western-built jets operated by airlines in Russia and the CIS. Out of 743 western-built aircraft then being operated by Russian airlines last year, 582 were registered in Bermuda.