Summary
- Ural Airlines has decided to dismantle its stranded A320 in a field in Siberia, as an alternative of attempting to retrieve it.
- The plane crash-landed in September 2023, but all passengers and crew were unharmed.
- The airline initially planned to fly the A320 off the sector but reconsidered as a result of risks and technical difficulties, ultimately deciding to scrap it for parts.
Ural Airlines has given up on retrieving its stranded A320 from a field, as an alternative deciding to dismantle it for parts. The plane made an emergency landing in a field in Siberia back in September after its hydraulic system failed.
Ural to scrap A320 stuck in field
Based on a report by Airlive, the Russian airline has given up on flying the Airbus A320-200 out of its present resting place in a wheat field. Easy Flying readers will probably recall the September twelfth incident from last 12 months when a Ural Airlines A320 crash-landed in a field near the Siberian village of Moskovka – fortunately, all 159 passengers and 6 crew escaped unharmed, however the plane has been stuck there ever since.
The carrier initially desired to fly the A320 off the sector and even declared its engines fully operational, but later reconsidered given the risks, technical difficulties and economic viability. The plan was to take off from the sector after it had frozen over, but reports later suggested the airline would scrap the plane for parts as an alternative. At one point, Ural Airlines CEO Surgey Skuratov said the airline planned on keeping the A320 in its fleet and would dismantle it before transporting it to nearby Novosibirsk Airport for reassembly.
Nonetheless, it appears a final decision has been made, and the 20-year-old A320 (original registration: VP-BMW) – leased to Ural from AerCap before it was re-registered as RA-73805 – might be cannibalized for parts.
A 12 months’s rent and personal security
Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reports that the owner of the wheat field has been paid a full 12 months’s rent for the A320s temporary accommodation, amounting to around a million Rubles ($11,350), and with the potential for extending it further should it prove essential.
Photo: Ural Airlines
The realm across the plane has been fenced off and is protected by a 24-hour security detail. The scrapping of the A320 is predicted to occur this summer under higher weather conditions, and before the lease on the sector runs out in September.
Russian planes hungry for parts
Given the dearth of spare parts available for Russian airlines as a result of economic sanctions, scrapping the A320 will not be such a giant loss for Ural. The plane is powered by two CFM 56 engines which might be the most dear a part of the carcass.
Photo: Lukas Wunderlich | Shutterstock
RA-73805 began life under Air Arabia, flying for the airline for nearly a decade, including a brief spell at subsidiary Air Arabia Maroc. It joined Ural Airlines in May 2013 and was reconfigured with two cabin classes, seating 12 in business and 144 in economy.
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