Bermuda’s Civil aviation authorities to help repatriate aircraft from Russia

Civil aviation authorities have been given permission to help owners and lessors regain control of aircraft trapped in an international quagmire that is part of the Russia-Ukraine war.

It could also mean their return to good standing on the island’s aircraft register.

Bermuda is the home register for hundreds of Russian aircraft, putting the two countries at loggerheads.

Amid Western sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, Bermuda withdrew airworthiness certificates for the aircraft, in effect grounding them.

Russian authorities claimed Bermuda was no longer the registrar; that the aircraft were now Russian registered.

Russia passed a law allowing the country’s airlines to place aircraft leased from foreign companies on Russia’s aircraft register.

Aircraft cannot legally be registered in more than one jurisdiction.

Russian officials angrily issued a media statement that as a result of “the unilateral cancellation by the Bermuda aviation authorities of the airworthiness certificates of Russian aircraft, the Russian Federation suspended the intergovernmental agreement with Bermuda removing the island as the airworthiness authority”.

But the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority had no official deregistration requests from the Russian Government, only pleas from Russian air operators.

Under the rules, the aircraft’s owner has to make the request. Such aircraft, some of which were seized by Russian officials, have seen the removal of support services from normal Western agencies.

The matter is expected to lead to a three-way legal battle between airlines, lessors and insurers that could last many years.

Bermuda was forced in April to follow the sanctions regime imposed in Britain.

It meant the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority was mandated to withdraw services it would normally be expected to provide, as part of the global network of servicing agents.

The banned services include technical assistance for licensing, maintenance and continuing airworthiness management approvals and any other aircraft-related activities.

The service bans were for aircraft seized by the Russian Federation or associated with persons connected with Russia.

The BCAA has now said it supports the policy of repatriation of aircraft from the Russian Federation, back under the Bermuda flag.

It said this month that the Bermuda Government had provided it with a licence of limited privilege, which provides some relief from trade sanctions, to facilitate repatriation of aircraft from Russia.

As a result, the BCAA is now allowed to provide individual approvals to persons and permits to aircraft, to help non-Russians recover their aircraft from the Russian Federation, to a place outside the Russian Federation.

The BCAA Operations and Airworthiness sections will provide support related to the repatriation of aircraft, for which dedicated procedures have been established.

Should an aircraft be repatriated, the authority said, it may remain on the Bermuda Aircraft Registry.

With hundreds of aircraft captured by the Russian Federation, repatriation will be an uncertainty in many cases.

Air traffic in and out of Russia has been limited and their new fleet includes some older aircraft that have withered in the absence of normal maintenance, some not worth the cost of repair and repatriation. royalgazette.com