Russia asks Vietnam for planes as illegally re-registered Western fleet falls apart

Russia has asked Vietnam to lease its passenger jets complete with crews and maintenance, as the fleet it seized from Western lessors in 2022 deteriorates and nearly a fifth of the country's largest airlines' planes sit grounded. Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin said Moscow had proposed that Vietnamese carriers transfer aircraft to Russian airlines under wet lease — an arrangement that covers jets, crew, maintenance and insurance — and that Hanoi was studying the proposal. Vietnam's main carrier exclusively operates Airbus and Boeing aircraft, meaning any transfer to Russia would involve Western-built planes.