Russia requests ACMI wet leases from Vietnam Airlines to counter fleet shortage
Facing maintenance sanctions and grounded airliners, Moscow proposes wet-leasing Vietnam Airlines aircraft with complete crew and support.
Russian authorities have submitted a proposal to Vietnam seeking ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance) wet-lease agreements involving Vietnam Airlines to bolster Russian carriers. Russian Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin announced following bilateral talks in Moscow that Vietnamese counterparts are reviewing the framework, with no specific fleet size or delivery schedule confirmed.
The initiative highlights operational strains across Russian commercial aviation following Western sanctions imposed in February 2022. Industry figures indicate that 130 of the 673 aircraft operated by Russia's top eleven airlines remain grounded, a rate near 20% compared to typical 10% levels. Outside the Aeroflot group, 93 of 322 airframes are currently unserviceable.
Executing the ACMI agreement faces regulatory barriers. Vietnam Airlines operates Western-manufactured Airbus and Boeing aircraft, creating exposure to United States secondary sanctions—a complication that previously stalled similar Russian wet-lease discussions with Ethiopian Airlines. Concurrently, bilateral air services agreements have expanded traffic rights to 105 weekly flights for each nation, with summer 2026 scheduled capacity rising by 50.1% year-on-year to roughly 695,300 seats.
Why it matters for your training
This development illustrates how international sanctions and unserviceable airframes constrain line operations, forcing airlines to rely on complex wet-lease structures to maintain capacity.
Sources
Article rewritten with the help of AI from the cited sources.