Planes Without Parts: Russia Turns to Vietnam to Keep Its Grounded Fleet Airborne

Moscow has formally proposed a wet-lease arrangement with Vietnam to supply passenger aircraft, complete with flight crews and maintenance staff, in a bid to bolster Russia’s dwindling commercial fleet. Re-registering hundreds of foreign-owned passenger jets on domestic registers in 2022 turned out to be the simple part of aviation self-reliance; finding the parts to keep them flying has proven considerably harder. Nearly one-fifth of the aircraft operated by Russia’s largest airlines are currently grounded—double the standard rate of operational downtime. The shortfall stems directly from Western sanctions, which severed Russian carriers from original equipment manufacturers and authorized servicing networks.

In global aviation, a wet-lease is a standard agreement where one airline provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance, and insurance to another—essentially renting a fully operational flight department off the shelf. For Moscow, leasing foreign-maintained planes offers a temporary workaround to keep domestic air routes open. However, because Vietnam’s commercial carriers rely heavily on jets manufactured by Europe’s Airbus and America’s Boeing, accepting Moscow’s offer would expose Hanoi’s aviation sector to severe secondary sanctions from Western regulators.

For the European Union, the proposal highlights the ongoing challenge of enforcing sanctions against circumvention by third countries. Secondary sanctions are regulatory measures aimed at penalizing foreign entities that facilitate trade with sanctioned nations. Because European aerospace flagship Airbus operates under EU jurisdiction, any foreign airline that transfers European-built jets or certified components into Russian service risks immediate operational retaliation. In practice, a Vietnamese airline caught aiding Russian carriers could find its own Airbus servicing contracts terminated, effectively grounding its international business to assist a neighbour’s domestic flight schedule.

Vietnamese airlines must now decide whether short-term charter revenue from Moscow is worth the risk of losing access to Western aircraft technology, replacement parts, and European airspace. If Hanoi declines the proposal to protect its own fleets, Russia will be forced to look for alternative foreign partners or accept further reductions in its domestic flight schedules as its existing fleet continues to wear out.