The Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade has banned refueling and maintenance of American aircraft operated by Russian and Belarusian airlines.
According to the Turkish industry publication AirportHaber, the Turkish authorities made this decision on March 14. The reason was a letter from the Bureau of Industry and Security of the US Department of Commerce.
The US authorities imposed sanctions on Russian and Belarusian airlines back in March 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The restrictions prohibited refueling and any maintenance of Boeing and other airliners from Russia and Belarus that contain more than 25% of US components.
The U.S. Department of Commerce expected that the sanctions would at least prevent international flights by blacklisted aircraft.
However, Russian airlines continued to fly Boeings, in particular to Turkey, a NATO country.
On February 1, 2023, the Russian media reported that Turkish ground handling provider Havas had received a warning from the U.S. Department of Commerce for servicing sanctioned aircraft.
Further violation of the sanctions by Havas could result in imprisonment of employees, fines, loss of export privileges and other restrictions by the US authorities.
Currently, the US sanctions list includes 188 aircraft. These are airliners manufactured by Boeing, Airbus and Gulfstream, which have more than 25% of American parts.
The U.S. government’s restrictions include airliners owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, Aeroflot, Azur Air, Belavia, Pobeda, Nordwind, Rossiya, Ural Airlines, S7 Airlines, and UTair.
The decision of the Turkish authorities to ban the service of aircraft from Russia and Belarus does not mean that Russian and Belarusian airlines will stop flying to Turkey. For flights to Turkey, they can use Russian- or foreign-made airliners with no more than 25% American components.
Update: According to Flightradar24 online radar, on March 17, planes of Russian and Belarusian airlines from the sanctioned list still continue to fly to Turkey.
On March 17, Rosaviatsia also issued a notice that flights of Russian airlines in the summer 2023 flight season will be provided with ground handling services at Turkish airports as planned in accordance with previously concluded agreements.
The announcement came after a meeting of representatives of aviation regulators from Russia and Turkey in Ankara.
