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Comment by smhenderson | Hacker News Reader

Anyone know what impact these two items from the article would have on western companies?

allowing Russian airlines to register jets leased from Western firms as their own property

In response, a government commission on Wednesday approved the first step towards nationalising assets of foreign firms that leave the country.

It seems to me the companies involved probably knew this was possible/probable when they pulled out but I don't know enough about all of this to understand how much value they lose when their capital in a country is simply taken from them outright...

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An aviation youtube channel speculated about this posibility a few days ago: https://youtu.be/Lz4gCE4ccRM

In short more than half of all the russian operated airliners are leased from foreign companies. These leases are rummored to have stipulations that in case of a sanction the leased aircraft needs to be returned. It was already speculated that the Russian state won’t be letting that to happen.

These airlines will only be flying east…

This is good for Russia in the short term, but is going to be soo bad for Russia in the long term. Even once the sanctions end, business/capital will fear going into Russia for decades. Everyone in Russia is going to be poorer for the rest of their lives because of what's happening in Ukraine.

"Dublin-based AerCap, the world’s largest aircraft leasing company, is the most exposed to the crisis, with 152 aircraft in Russia and Ukraine valued at €2.1 billion, representing less than 5 per cent of its fleet value."

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/russian-state-airlines-n...

I imagine global companies' Russian assets are a minimal overall percentage of their property. And I suppose something companies should assume is a risk when they do business under a dictator.

But I also think it's really interesting from a burned bridges standpoint: It's going to be super hard to get companies to come back or resume doing business with Russia ever again.

Though what's the value of an unsupported modern jetliner?

More to the point, as soon as that aircraft lands at an airport outside Russia (or, perhaps, China), a nice young person with a briefcase will be explaining to the FBO that the aircraft is the property of Foobar Leasing, and should not be refueled while the repossession process is under way.

They're not flying outside Russia or China. Problem solved.

They will start falling apart sooner or later anyway.

I think it would depend on how safety conscious you are.

They can be sold for building material.

https://www.pinterest.com/roberthathaway9/airplane-houses/

Won’t they get grounded the moment they touch down in controlled airspace? They can probably skirt that for a while but eventually the engines need refurbishment, and that likely requires OEM parts.

And of course any time you have to divert due to a flight emergency you lose that plane.

It looks like a pure retaliation - to make western leasing companies to suffer losses. What to do with the planes I think no-one thinks at this stage. They may use them for scrap metal if will not find a better use.

Seized foreign assets are often used for recompense in such situations. It can take a while to work through the courts, though.

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