The end of the current week was traditionally marked by alarming news for Russian tourists: according to the statement of the Turkish edition of Airporthaber, Turkey “has stopped providing various services to aircraft manufactured in the USA and under Russian-Belarusian control.” Experts said that the decision was made in accordance with the decision of the Department of Customs and Trade, moreover, at the direct request of the States, more precisely, in connection with the letter from the Office of Industry and Security on export practices of the US Department of Commerce. In fact, the refusal to refuel and service Russian aircraft, if it is actually observed in Turkey, can deal a crushing blow to Russian tourism to this country, turning it from mass to elite. Therefore, until full clarity on this issue has come, it can be stated that tourism in both countries is in a panic…
Further, however, clarifications followed that we are not talking about all the aircraft, but only about 30 aircraft that fall under sanctions – and they mainly belong to Aeroflot. Which has already reported that it continues to fly to Turkey as before.
The publication provides a detailed list of “sanctioned” aircraft with their numbers and carrier airlines. As a result, apparently, the Turkish aviation authorities for the third time partially satisfied the requirements of the US Department of Commerce to stop servicing Russian aircraft included in the department’s sanctions list. The essence of these sanctions is that refueling and related services are prohibited for liners containing more than 25% parts of American origin if they are sent to Russia and Belarus. The ban affected the refueling of liners and ground handling services.
In total, this list turned out to be only 30 boards, and mostly Aeroflot – the national carrier has 2 wide-body Boeing-777s in this list, which fly as part of the Rossiya airline and 15 Boeing-737. Also on the list are five Boeing-737s of S7 airlines, 4 Boeing-737s of Utair airlines, 2 Airbus-320s and 321 of Yamal airlines, as well as one Boeing of the tour operator airlines AZUR Air and Ikar.
As already mentioned, Aeroflot has already commented on the news. “Aeroflot operates flights to the cities of Turkey in the regular mode, on schedule, within the declared flight program,” the press service of the national carrier said. Experts also note that mainly narrow-body aircraft, which have a minimal impact on the summer flight program of tour operators to Turkish resorts, fell under this ban.
Recall that the topic of sanctions from Turkey against Russian tourists has been developing since January, then the Havaş company, servicing aircraft at Turkish airports, warned Russians, as well as Belarusians and Iranians, who also fell under sanctions, about a possible ban on servicing “sanctioned” aircraft. And then, according to the company's statement, about 170 Boeings of Russian airlines, as well as aircraft of airlines from Belarus, Iran and “businessman Roman Abramovich” were under threat. Read the details at this link.
The Turkish edition “did not forget” to report that this is “the first sanctions decision from Turkey regarding the embargo imposed on Russia throughout the world.” Although strictly speaking, the first was the story with the Mir cards, which also developed from a particular to a general ban. So, in general, the signal is alarming.
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