Why the ‘Siberia’ Plane Did Not Return to Russia from Yerevan: Details from the Civil Aviation Committee

On March 3, a Russian ‘Siberia’ airline Airbus A320neo (registration VP-BSL) that landed in Yerevan was prohibited from returning to Russia. Instead, the aircraft later headed to Europe, and ‘Siberia’ was denied this return. Hetq reports that it learned some details about the incident from the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia.

As is known, the Russian aircraft was operating a flight from Novosibirsk to Yerevan. During the flight, the aircraft traversed the skies of Kazakhstan, crossed the Caspian Sea, entered the airspace of Dagestan, and then was preparing to enter Armenian airspace through Georgian skies. However, before crossing the Georgian border, it diverted towards Mineralnye Vody. After landing there, 40 minutes later, the aircraft took a course towards Yerevan, reaching it after entering Georgian airspace, but the Armenian aviation authorities did not permit the A320neo to conduct the return flight from Yerevan to Novosibirsk.

On March 4, the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia announced that just hours before landing at Zvartnots, while the aircraft was still in Russian airspace, documentation issues regarding the operational airworthiness of the A320neo (VP-BSL) had emerged. These issues were related to the relations between the operator ‘Siberia’, the aviation authorities of the aircraft's registration country, and the lessor. The committee added that no lien had been placed on the aircraft, but its flight permission had been temporarily suspended.

‘Hetq’ had reported that the aircraft is not registered in Russia, but in the Caribbean, specifically in Bermuda. We asked the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee whether the reason for the suspension of the flight permission for the Yerevan-Nvosibirsk route was the cancellation of the flightworthiness certificate for VP-BSL by the Bermuda aviation authorities. It turns out that this is indeed the case, and the reason for the cancellation was a breach of contract.

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