Russian government states plans to start “sanctions-busting” airline

The Russian government has announced that it has held meetings to discuss the possibility of launching an airline that will be structured in order to service the Crimea region without violating the current EU/US sanctions regime.Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated that a government meeting had “addressed the issue of creating an airline to ensure regular air travel to Crimea with a domestic fleet.”The current sanctions have grounded Aeroflot subsidiary Dobrolyot by invalidating its leasing agreement with Irish lessors AWAS. Russian airlines currently lease 90% of their aircraft from Western lessors.Oleg Panteleyev, head of the AviaPort information agency, told