European aviation authority ‘concerned’ about the safety of Western aircraft in Russia

Biden: US to build temporary grain silos along Ukrainian border

The United States will help Ukraine build temporary grain silos along the Ukrainian border and in Poland. US President Joe Biden said this on Tuesday at a conference in the American city of Philadelphia, reports Reuters news agency.

The aim is to restart grain exports from Ukraine and curb the rise in food prices. “I am working closely with our European partners to get 20 million tons of grain on the market in Ukraine to lower food prices.”

More than 20 million tons of grain in Ukraine are trapped in silos, according to Reuters. The country would not have enough silos to store the new crop. Ukrainian grain shipments have virtually ground to a halt since the Russian invasion. This is partly because Russia is blocking the export of wheat from ports on the Black Sea. Russia and Ukraine together account for almost a third of the world’s wheat stocks. Due to the resulting scarcity, wheat prices have risen worldwide. Millions of people are at risk of getting into a food crisis.

Biden also said he was working on a plan to transport grain from Ukraine by train, but that implementation may be delayed because Ukrainian rail lines are wider than those in the rest of Europe. According to him, the grain must therefore first be transferred to other trains at the Ukrainian border, in order to be transported further.

European aviation authority ‘concerned’ about the safety of Western aircraft in Russia

The European aviation authority EASA is “very concerned” about the safety of Western aircraft flying in Russia, because Russian airlines would no longer have access to spare parts and proper maintenance due to sanctions. EASA director Patrick Ky called this “very unsafe” on Tuesday, Reuters news agency reported. Most of the planes of Russian airlines come from the two largest aircraft manufacturers in the world, European Airbus and American Boeing.

According to Ky, the risks of insecurity increase as time goes on. He is in favor of regulators looking on a case-by-case basis whether an exemption from the sanctions should be considered. “What would be the justification, why should you absolutely use this type of aircraft?” Ky said. Supplying goods or services ‘for humanitarian reasons’ is justifiable, according to the director, but should not become ‘the norm’.

Airbus and Boeing announced shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine that they were suspending the supply of goods and services to Russia. Airlines normally have parts in stock for two to three weeks. The Russian aircraft industry is not only relatively small, but also two-thirds of the most popular aircraft (the Sukhoi Superjet SSJ100) consists of western parts. An all-Russian model could not be put into service until 2024. Before that, Russia may need to dismantle Western-made aircraft to keep other aircraft in the air, EASA director Ky.