A Russian delegation is due to arrive in Turkey in the next few days to solve the problem of “closed skies” for 500 Russian dual-registered planes. Recall that since November 1, “friendly” Turkey banned the flight through its airspace of Russian aircraft with dual registration (that is, registered in two jurisdictions). As a result, airliners flying to Egypt have to go around the territory of Turkey which prolongs the flight for about 30 minutes. How the problem will be solved is not known yet. However, Turkish experts are already telling the media-foreign agents that “the delegation from Russia will not be able to lift the ban”.
A total of about 500 such planes were counted in Turkey. Interestingly, the closure was made after the tour operator “Pegasus” announced an increase of flights to third countries, such as Egypt – now the Nordwind aircraft will have to fly around the Turkish airspace, which will add an extra half hour to the flights to Egypt. Read more at this link.
But the Turkish branch of the newspaper Deutsche Welle (recognized in Russia as a foreign agent) states that only about 500 Russian passenger planes were “under attack” and that “the whole problem is caused by confusion in the registration between Bermuda and Russia. In the old days, airlines were eager to register planes in countries “providing financial convenience.” “Airworthiness certificates, which according to the rules are mandatory for the participation of aircraft in international flights, are created by the country of registration,” added the pages of DW Turkey.
As a result, after the imposition of sanctions, Bermuda revoked its airworthiness certificates in March on the grounds that these aircraft can no longer undergo a technical inspection in accordance with the standards. Russia, in turn, began unilaterally registering the aircraft in its own registry, and some planes were legally registered that way. However, for 500 planes it was impossible, the newspaper said.
As a result, Turkey “was forced to make a decision in accordance with the directives of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). “Although Turkey does not participate in Western sanctions against Russia, it is obliged to comply with the rules of international civil aviation. There is no double registration in aviation. Each aircraft can only be registered in one country, and an airworthiness certificate can be issued by the country of registration. A plane without a certificate cannot be insured, and in these cases it can neither fly to your country, nor pass over it,” Lale Kaplan, an expert in air law, told the Turkish unit of the media-no-agent.
In fact, Turkey fears the consequences, experts add: “Article 18 of the International Civil Aviation Convention does not allow double registration, that is the problem. If the flights are allowed, all responsibility in case of an accident or other emergency will be on Turkey,” they say. Also in the pages of DW it is stated that it is “impossible” to unregister the planes in Bermuda, so the Russian delegation will not achieve anything.
