According to Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, data from the past five years shows that Western sanctions have not significantly affected flight safety in Russian civil aviation.
The Federal Air Transport Agency , also known as Rosaviatsiya, or FATA, is the Russian government agency responsible for overseeing the civil aviation industry in Russia.
Russia’s air safety watchdog stated that there are no apparent negative patterns in the yearly registration of incidents.
Russian passenger and cargo aircraft reportedly experience approximately 800 incidents annually, with technical and power failures accounting for 485 incidents between 2019 and 2022.
Rosaviatsiya reported that there were 670 aircraft incidents recorded in commercial aviation during the first 11 months of 2023 (December data is not available yet). Out of these, 400 incidents were linked to equipment failures. The regulator noted that this number is directly correlated to the total number of completed flights, which is anticipated to decrease in 2022 and 2023 in comparison to 2021.
Data from 116 airlines holding an air operator’s certificate is considered in the agency’s statistics. The country’s top five airlines, namely Aeroflot group, S7, and Ural Airlines, carry approximately 65% of the passengers. It is estimated that foreign-made aircraft contribute to around 95% of the passenger turnover.
In 2019, Rosaviatsiya recorded a total of six incidents, two of which were linked to equipment failures. The following year, from 2020 to 2021, there were 23 incidents in civil aviation, with seven attributed to equipment failures. In 2022, there were 15 incidents, with only one resulting from equipment failure. As for the current year, within the initial 11 months, there have been eight incidents, one of which was related to equipment failure.
According to the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, engine failures are most commonly caused by non-compliance with engine airworthiness maintenance or flight operation regulations.