Aeroflot sends Airbus A330 aircraft to Iran for overhaul!

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Russia's largest airline, Aeroflot, has sent one of its Airbus A330-300 planes to Iran for technical maintenance. The aircraft with registration number RA-73700 made a technical flight to Tehran on April 5. 

Russia's RBC online media reported that the aircraft will be serviced by the maintenance division of Iranian carrier Mahan Air at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport. Aeroflot confirmed in a statement to the media that the supplier will carry out a wide range of maintenance work on the A330. "The organization has the necessary capacity, certificates and experience. The supplier performs high-quality maintenance,” the carrier said.

Iranian supplier Mahan Air Engineering and Maintenance says it offers a wide range of support services for Airbus A340/310/300/A320, as well as BAe 146, Boeing 747-300/400 and Fokker 50 aircraft. 

Aeroflot previously sent its A330s to Hong Kong-based HAECO, which is owned by UK-based Swire Group. However, Russian carriers were denied access to Western maintenance services and spare parts a year ago in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Aeroflot has its own MRO subsidiary — Aeroflot Technics — which has been certified by the Russian authorities to maintain airliners. It has already replaced front and main gears on three A330s in the airline's fleet this year. But it does not have the capacity for a full range of services.

Aeroflot now owns 12 x A330-330s, which were leased in 2008-2012. The carrier bought eight of them back from Irish lessors in May 2022. RA-73700 was not among them. The aircraft is now dual-registered as it still carries Bermuda registration number VQ-BNS, which prevents it from flying outside of Russia. 

But Iran obviously turns a blind eye to dual registration issues because the country has lived under international sanctions, including those affecting commercial aviation, for decades. Moscow has expanded its relations with Tehran in many spheres since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, as it has not joined Western sanctions. 

Iran's Mehr news agency quoted a spokesman for the country's aviation authorities as saying in June 2022 that the partners were in discussions about the possibility of exporting Iranian-made parts and equipment and performing repair and maintenance services for Russian aircraft. by Iranian repair centers. .

Aeroflot operates 179 aircraft which also includes 22 Boeing 777s, 37 Boeing 737s, seven A350s, 100 A320/321ceo and neos and a single Russian-made Superjet 100.

Eight of Aeroflot's A330 aircraft are currently in service, according to Aviation Week Network's Fleet Discovery. An additional A330 is listed as parked and two more A330s are in storage. RA-73700 is listed as parked and is 11,53 years old.

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