Russia's Aeroflot to settle deals for last 36 planes leased from West

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian flag carrier Aeroflot expects to sign settlement deals with Western insurers and leasing firms on the last 36 planes from a total of 228 aircraft it agreed to buy, Aeroflot head Sergei Aleksandrovski told Russian newspaper Kommersant.

Aircraft leasing firms, such as AerCap and BOC Aviation have struck settlements with Russia totalling at least $2.7 billion for over a quarter of the roughly 400 aircraft stuck in the country since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

"Only 36 aircraft remain, which are currently in the active phase of insurance settlement. Essentially, these are the last planes (needed to be settled) owned by fully fledged foreign lessors," he said in an interview published late on Thursday.

Aeroflot expects that the agreements on the 36 planes could be finalised between May and July this year, Aleksandrovski added.

As part of previous deals, international lessors have handed ownership of the planes to a Russian state insurance company, NSK, which used state budgetary funds to buy them and transfer them to Russian airlines.

Aleksandrovski said government money would not be used for these 36 planes, but did not disclose the value of the deal. The settlement will be paid from Aeroflot's own and borrowed funds.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Alexander Marrow and David Evans)