The Russian government is considering buying approximately 500 leased aircraft to settle their status, Interfax reports, quoting transport minister Vitaly Savelyev. "First of all, we need to come to a decision with the government on what should be done by airlines that we have pretty much urged to keep planes - that is, planes should be bought out or not bought out. Because companies should continue to make lease payments," Savelyev is quoted as stating during an appearance at the Russian Federation Council on 23 March. He said that the fleet has a total residual value of $20 billion which is a "very large amount". Savelyev, who is subject to Western sanctions, adds that lessors have requested the return of the leased jets, which represents a "political decision" for the Russian government. Savelyev is also quoted as stating that the other issue is around letters of credit extended by Russian banks. "This is approximately 200 billion roubles for all airlines, because our banks, approximately 20 or so banks, have issued letters of credit against foreign banks, guaranteeing these payments. Right now, these letters of credit are unsealed, and default on the part of airlines, which will happen on March 28, I hope we'll find a solution by that time...this default will yield a cross default on our banks. Therefore, either the banks suffer or the airlines do, because banks are pursuing claims," Savelyev is reported to have said. Lessors face a deadline of repossessing their aircraft by 28 March before leases are voided by EU sanctions on doing business with Russian carriers.

Seven US commercial carriers’ chief executives have sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to end travel restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of Covid-19. The 23 March letter from US aviation trade group Airlines for America says the restrictions are “no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment”. Signatories include Alaska Air’s Ben Minicucci, American Airlines’ Doug Parker, Ed Bastian of Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines’ Peter Ingram, JetBlue Airways chief Robin Hayes, Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines and United Airlines’ Scott Kirby. The letter notes that ongoing declines in hospitalisation and death rates in the USA indicate that the country is “well protected against severe disease from Covid-19”, adding: “Now is the time for the Biden administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions – including the international pre-departure testing requirement and the federal mask mandate.” The airline chiefs argue that the testing requirement in particular “creates a competitive disadvantage for US travel and tourism by placing an additional cost and burden on travel to the US”, and point out that the UK, EU and Canada have lifted international travel restrictions. US carriers’ number of daily international flights on 23 March was down 15% (seven-day average) compared with the equivalent day in pre-pandemic 2019, data shows. The seven-day average number of daily new cases of Covid-19 per million population in the USA has declined from an Omicron-driven peak of 2,453 on 17 January to 86 on 23 March, World Health Organization data shows. The Covid-19 infection rate has lately been on the rise in some European countries, driven by a subvariant of Omicron. Spikes in European infection rates have typically presaged spikes in the USA. Infection rates in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK began increasing in early March, WHO data shows. The infection rate in the Netherlands subsequently peaked and commenced declining in mid-March, while the rates in France, Germany and the UK have mostly remained on an upswing. Anthony Fauci – the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Biden’s chief medical adviser – on 20 March told the US’s ABC News that the “BA2” subvariant had “increased transmission capability” compared with the initial Omicron variant, but that cases caused by the subvariant “do not appear to be any more severe and they do not appear to evade immune responses either from vaccines or prior infection”. Fauci added: “The bottom line is, we likely will see an uptick in cases as we’ve seen in the European countries, particularly the UK, where they’ve had the same situation as we’ve had now. They have BA2. They have a relaxation of some restrictions such as indoor masking and there’s a waning of immunity. Hopefully, we won’t see a surge. I don’t think we will. The easiest way to prevent that is to continue to get people vaccinated. And for those who have been vaccinated, to continue to get them boosted.” The WHO on 22 March disclosed that during the previous 30 days BA2 had become the “predominant” Covid-19 variant globally, and was currently dominant in the Americas.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has suspended type certificates it issued for the Sukhoi Superjet and Tupolev Tu 204 as part of actions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this month, EASA disclosed detail about its decision to suspend all certificates it had issued for aircraft, equipment and organisations based in Russia, and to place responsibility for their regulatory oversight with local authorities. In addition to the Superjet and Tu 204-120CE, EASA lists among the type certificates it suspended for Russian-built equipment Beriev BE-103 and BE-200ES-E amphibious aircraft, Kamov Ka-32A11BC helicopters, and AL-30 tethered gas balloons. EASA issued its type certificate for the Superjet in 2012, a year after the aircraft had gained its Russian original certification from the Interstate Aviation Committee. In 2015, state of design responsibility for the Superjet was transferred from the Interstate Aviation Committee to Russia’s federal air transport agency Rosaviatsia. Fleets data shows that 145 Superjets are in service, with another 63 listed as being in storage. Operators of in-service aircraft include Aeroflot and subsidiary Rossiya Airlines, Azimuth Airlines, Gazpromavia, IrAero, Red Wings Airlines, Severstal Aircompany, Yakutia Airlines, Yamal Airlines, Thailand’s air force and Kazakhstan’s border guards. CityJet was the only western European operator to introduce Superjets to its fleet from 2016. The Irish carrier temporarily operated the type on Brussels Airlines’ behalf, but has since returned its Superjets. Defunct Mexican carrier Interjet was the only carrier in the Americas region to operate Superjets in the past. As part of its sanctions, the EU has banned Russian operators and aircraft – “regardless of their state of registry” – from flying through EU airspace.