Turkey stops servicing Russian-operated Boeing aircraft, 18 March 2023

Effective from March 14th, Turkish airport facilities are banned from providing fuel and related services to Boeing jets operated by Russian airlines. The decision comes directly from the government and was announced by its Ministry of Customs and Trade. While it appears that Russian airlines will still be able to fly to and through Turkey, this has resulted in airlines deploying Airbus jets to the country instead.

Coming from Turkish aviation site Airport Haber, the country's Ministry of Customs and Trade has banned the provision of fuel and related services to Russian aircraft...Indeed, the ban applies specifically to aircraft manufactured in the United States and under Russian and Belarusian control. The decision to impose this ban is to comply with sanctions imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

Refueling and related services are prohibited for more than just Russian scheduled passenger airlines. Indeed, the ban also applies to private, cargo, charter aircraft - or aircraft manufactured in any foreign country if such aircraft contain more than 25% US-origin raw materials.

Airport Haber has published a list of aircraft affected by the ban. Unsurprisingly, this consists of aircraft manufactured by Boeing, including the 737-800 and 777-300ER. As such, it doesn't appear that Airbus aircraft are affected yet.

If we look to data provided by FlightRadar24.com, we can see changes taking place already. This is fairly unsurprising given that the ban is reported to have come into effect several days ago.

Interestingly, however, it appears that Aeroflot started to swap its Boeing jets for Airbus metal at the end of February - long-before the March 14th deadline. Looking at a number of Aeroflot services from Moscow to Istanbul, we can see a clear transition away from Boeing aircraft. Where a service would have once operated a mix of Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s, it now operates only A320s and A321s - SU2136 and SU2132 are just two examples...