美国国家公共电台 NPR--Growing sanctions on Russia could cripple Russian airlines

Growing sanctions on Russia could cripple Russian airlines

Transcript¹

Russian airlines are primarily only flying domestically. More than half of Russian planes are leased from companies in the West, which now must terminate those contacts and repossess the planes.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Businesses in Russia are struggling, including Russian airlines. For instance, they're now primarily only flying domestically and could soon be forced to cut back on even that. NPR's David Schaper reports on the implications.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE²: In the Cold War era, Russian airlines flew Russian-made planes, and Western airlines flew aircraft made in the West. But over the last 30 years, the aviation industry has become global and completely interconnected.

GEORGE DIMITROFF: The West relies on China and Russia just as much as they rely on the West.

SCHAPER: George Dimitroff is head of valuations for the aviation analytics company Cirium.

DIMITROFF: And I think these sanctions will probably demonstrate how dependent we are on each other.

SCHAPER: Exhibit A are the airplanes now used by Russian airlines, according to Yi Gao, who teaches aviation at Purdue University.

YI GAO: There are operating mostly Western-made airplanes - Airbus or Boeing. So the current ban or sanction on Russia actually will have huge impact on their operators.

SCHAPER: Close to three-fourths of the aircraft used by Russian airlines were manufactured by Boeing and Airbus, and under the sanctions, both companies are no longer providing them with spare airplane parts or maintenance and technical support services. Eddy³ Pieniazek of the London-based aviation advisory⁴ firm Ishka says that could make it difficult for Russian airlines to keep those planes flying.

EDDY PIENIAZEK: There's been talk again of what they call cannibalizing other aircraft to support the flying, active ones. They might start robbing parts of some aircraft, maybe the leased aircraft, to keep their own aircraft flying.

SCHAPER: Purdue professor Gao says as they pull planes out of service, Russian airlines will likely significantly reduce the number of their flights.

GAO: Without proper maintenance and parts and equipment, I think a lot of the remote regions may lose connection to the rest of the economy, I think. That's a threat to their domestic economy as well.

SCHAPER: Russian airlines are also losing access to funds and Western banks, the use of reservation systems and other software provided by Western vendors⁵, and their customers cannot use their Visa, MasterCard or other Western credit cards. The largest Russian airline, Aeroflot, is majority state owned, and the Putin regime may decide to nationalize the other airlines. But there's another problem - Russian airlines don't own most of their planes. About 80% of them are leased, mostly from Western leasing companies. Again, George Dimitroff.

DIMITROFF: It's over 500 aircraft currently operated by Russian airlines which are leased from Western lessors. And so now that puts these lessors in a very tricky⁶ situation.

SCHAPER: Sanctions require the lessors to terminate their leases by March 28 and repossess their aircraft. And in recent weeks, owners have been frantically⁷ trying to seize the few planes that were still flying to international destinations. But Dimitroff says all but a handful of those planes are untouchable inside of Russia.

DIMITROFF: It means that these lessors cannot get back 500 aircraft. They cannot get payment for them. And it seems like there's no way out.

SCHAPER: Eddy Pieniazek says his firm values those leased aircraft at $10.3 billion, but he says the logistics of getting them back right now are next to impossible.

PIENIAZEK: Repossessing an aircraft takes a lot of time, takes a lot of effort. And they've never had to do so many so quickly and in such a short space of time. So I think, basically, it's not going to happen.

SCHAPER: So as Russian airlines default on their payments, they're still able to fly their planes - for now. But they may soon have to ground much of their fleet because they lack the support needed to keep the planes flying.

David Schaper, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRISTEZA'S "LA VERDAD")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 eddy   

n.漩涡，涡流

参考例句：

• The motor car disappeared in eddy of dust.汽车在一片扬尘的涡流中不见了。
• In Taylor's picture,the eddy is the basic element of turbulence.在泰勒的描述里，旋涡是湍流的基本要素。

4 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

5 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

7 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。