And just if you don't know, India is not part of US Russia sanctions and trades with both.
It's not a political decision. It's current law. What Air India would have needed would have been a political decision, a waiver, to an understandable but unforeseen situation.
New Delhi would be fine asking for forgiveness if this were military plane. But Air India, a private company, has to deal with other private companies. Do you think Air India's banks want to bet their livelihoods on an ex post facto waiver? Even if (read: when) Air India is given a waiver, the American wire officer who processed their transactions after a known sanctions violation would be in personal jeopardy, legally, professionally and possibly criminally. Same for every engineer who provided support, every courier who knowingly transported parts.
> what has it to do with GE? The equipment belongs to Air India in India.
The engine on that 777 is made by GE. It has to comply with U.S. law. You don't want every part and service contract with GE and Boeing and who knows who else being held up while you get forgiveness.
Indian policy is to do trade with Russia and that is all that matters here.
You do realize engines like this require continuous maintenance, access to parts etc? They couldn't safely operate their fleet for very long without western companies.
Risking all of that just so that they wouldn't have to delay the repairs for a few weeks or even months would make zero sense.
> Indian policy is to do trade with Russia and that is all that matters here.
Air India operates zero Russian airplanes and it's fleet is exclusively made up from Airbus and Boeing jets. There are zero practical reasons for them to want to move away from that now.
Nor legally. Overfly regulations generally require minimum standards be met. This is why Iranian and Russian jets are largely confined to domestic service.
Of course there is. The Trading With The Enemy Act of 1917, together with a series of E. O.s, namely, 14024 and 14068, as implemented last June [1]. Everyone knew the rules they were playing by going into this.
Jeopardizing what? There are no real alternatives to Airbus and Boeing and won't be for years.
Also at the end it's a signal aircraft which will be fixed and back in service even if might take a few weeks or even months than it would ussually. No need to blow this out of proportion.