Aeroflot Group subsidiary A-Technics is going to turn into Russia’s largest MRO provider. 

The parent airline group announced July 5 that it would transfer to A-Technics all its aircraft maintenance facilities and staff by the end of 2022.

The mainline airline’s in-house facilities accounted for 46% of all maintenance work inside the Aeroflot group in 2021. A-Technics carried out a further 39% while the remaining 15% was performed by subsidiary carrier Rossiya, which operates its own repair hangar in St. Petersburg.

A-Technics will take on three hangars at Aeroflot’s home base in Moscow Sheremetyevo airport, as well as component repair shops, line maintenance stations and spare parts warehouses. They will be added to A-Technics’ current facilities, which include two repair hangars in Sheremetyevo, another one in Orenburg, and seven line maintenance stations across Russia; in Belgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Sochi, Stavropol and Voronezh. 

A-Technics CEO Mikhail Korobovich mentioned that the outsourcing of MRO services to the subsidiary would enable the airline to cut maintenance expenses. 

According to Aeroflot, the expanded A-Technics has a chance to become the largest MRO provider in Russia, the post-Soviet region and Eastern Europe. As a result of the merger, A-Technics will be capable of servicing 19 aircraft of nine types at one time including Boeing 747, 777 and 737, Airbus A350/330/321/320/A319 and Sukhoi Superjet 100. 

The company already provides line and base maintenance for Aeroflot and its subsidiary carriers Rossiya and Pobeda and carries out work for other Russian airlines. However, A-Technics’ market is likely to be limited to its home country due to the suspension of foreign approvals.

A-Technics used to be certified by the aviation authorities of Bermuda and the European Union, which allowed it to service the aircraft registered in these regions. The company passed its annual EASA Part 145 in February 2022. A-Technics was the only MRO provider in Russia certified to perform C-Checks on Boeing 747 and 777 widebodies.

EASA then revoked its approval in March in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the same month, the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority suspended the airworthiness certificate of its registered commercial aircraft operated in Russia, which included most of the Western fleet of Aeroflot Group. 

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) quickly expanded A-Technics’ FAP-285 certificate to enable the provider to work on Airbus and Boeing jets with Russian registration. The company also received Rosaviatsia FAP-21J approval on June 21 to design engineering components for both Russian and Western-made aircraft.

These measures allowed A-Technics to continue to maintain Western-made aircraft that are being operated in Russia, according to the Russian authorities. Aeroflot has transferred 158 out of its 162 Bermuda registered aircraft to the Russian registry since March, BCAA reported, as have Pobeda (41 aircraft) and Rossiya (37).

However, Rossiya’s representative told Aviation Week that the airline would keep its repair hangar in St. Petersburg independent, while the maintenance of the aircraft operated in Moscow and across Russia would be provided by A-Technics. The airline was among the first Russian carriers to get certified under FAP-285 approval in March—meaning its St. Petersburg facility could service Airbus and Boeing airliners.

A-Technics reported about 200 aircraft serviced in 2021. This included 185 A-Checks, 29 C-Checks and 10 re-delivery checks. 

Its main domestic competitor—S7 Technics, a subsidiary of S7 Airlines, Russia’s largest private carrier—performed 106 C-Checks in 2021. S7 Technics has repair bases in Moscow, Mineralnye Vody and Novosibirsk and line maintenance stations in Irkutsk and Vladivostok.