Ukraine prosecutes Russian firms for falsifying An-124 maintenance

A Volga-Dnepr subsidiary is facing criminal charges in Ukraine over claims it falsified the airworthiness certification of its Antonov 124-100 aircraft. The all-cargo carrier has not commented, but Aerotime reports that both the carrier’s German MRO subsidiary Amtes and the Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia (Rosaviatsiya) may be implicated. According to the report, Rosaviatsiya and Amtes are accused of renewing airworthiness certificates without supervision by manufacturer Antonov. It further claims that Rosaviatsiya justified its decision by claiming Antonov hiked up its prices “unreasonably” in the wake of the Crimea crisis, at the same time “deliberately” delaying repairs.