There's a difference when you have the technology. Russia isn't afraid of European sanctions, and it is taking matters into its own hands to extend the service life of A320 aircraft! This move has even left Airbus baffled.
On February 11, Ural Airlines announced the launch of a completely self-reliant A320 service life extension program. Unlike Iran, after three years of comprehensive aviation sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, Russian airlines did not massively ground their fleets but instead took an "inverse approach" - taking matters into their own hands to extend the service life of Airbus A320s.
The goal this time is to increase the aircraft's service limit to more than 96,000 flight hours. What does that mean? A typical A320 flies about 3,000 hours per year, so 96,000 hours means it can fly for over 30 years, far exceeding the original manufacturer's design standard of 25 years or 60,000 hours.
This life extension project is not just painting and replacing seats, but rather a full-chain operation from disassembly of the fuselage, structural inspection, key system maintenance to re-assembly. Particularly noteworthy is that the entire process no longer relies on Airbus or its authorized MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) organizations. This means that even if they are cut off from original factory technical support, spare parts supply, and airworthiness certification channels, Russia can still maintain a large fleet of Western-made aircraft safely in operation.
The foundation behind all this is Russia's long-standing accumulated aerospace industry base.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Airbus and Boeing have stopped providing technical support and spare parts to Russia, and hundreds of Western-made passenger aircraft once faced the risk of being grounded. But Russia did not sit idle. Since 2023, Ural Airlines has begun trying to perform deep maintenance on A320 landing gears. The landing gear is one of the most complex mechanical systems on an aircraft, involving high-strength materials, precision hydraulic control, and fatigue life management. Being able to independently complete such a high-difficulty repair indicates that it has mastered the detection, repair, and even remanufacturing technology of core structural components. To date, the company has completed the maintenance of more than ten A320 landing gears and hundreds of hydraulic components, and in early 2024 expanded its business to Boeing 737 landing gears - further proving that its technical platform has cross-aircraft adaptability.
The Soviet-era aviation maintenance system emphasized self-sufficiency, with many military and civil maintenance plants possessing reverse engineering capabilities. In recent years, under the pressure of sanctions, the Russian government has accelerated the promotion of "domesticization of aviation spare parts" and "localization of airworthiness standards," such as establishing its own AP-21 airworthiness regulations to bypass the certification barriers of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Ural Airlines' life extension project is a specific implementation of this strategy at the corporate level.
It seems that in any case, self-reliance is essential, and one should not place hope on others. This applies to individuals as well as countries.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1856879531314187/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.