An Aeroflot passenger plane was finally able to take off from Munich Airport again after more than two years. This long downtime was the result of a flight ban imposed immediately after the Russian attack on Ukraine, which applied to all Russian airlines in European airspace. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Germany closed its airspace to Russian aircraft just a few days later. The Aeroflot Airbus A320-214 aircraft was stranded at Munich Airport and was tied to the same location due to the sanctions.

Initially it appeared that Aeroflot would be able to retrieve the aircraft in the foreseeable future, but legal and logistical hurdles resulted in the aircraft being parked for over 800 days. However, the aircraft was finally able to be retrieved due to a legal peculiarity: it belonged to the Irish subsidiary of a Chinese leasing company, CMB Financial Leasing, which had only sold it to Aeroflot. Only when this owner organized the repatriation and assumed the considerable costs while the planes continued on to the Czech Republic.

The managed machine must be used for safe maintenance work and its airworthiness during long periods of downtime must be ensured. Munich Airport had repeatedly moved the plane to different parking positions to ensure that air traffic ran smoothly. These and other maintenance costs as well as parking fees ultimately lead to an outstanding bill of almost 460,000 euros. This sum, the highest parking lot ever recorded at the airport, was paid by the leasing company CMB Financial Leasing.

There had already been attempts to return the aircraft, but by June 2024 the legal and financial challenges had proven insurmountable. Finally, the Airbus A320 was approved to fly to the Czech Republic, where it could probably be used commercially again in the future – possibly in Canada. The demand for aircraft of this type is currently high because the Airbus A320 is relatively young and is considered particularly economical.

The repatriation of this aircraft illustrates the complex challenges and costs that sanctions and geopolitical tensions can pose in international air traffic. Cases like these raise the question of the extent to which leasing companies – often operating across national borders – are indirectly affected by sanctions and have to bear the consequences.