Aeroflot has sent its Airbus A330-300 to Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, Iran for maintenance by Mahan Air. This is the first instance in which a Russian airline has sent its planes to Iran for maintenance. As per the 2022 agreement between Russia and Iran, Iran agreed to supply Russian airlines with spare aircraft parts and provide maintenance services for Russian planes.
Following the sanctions by the west, Aeroflot's previous maintenance partners are no longer serving the airlines leading the airline to look out for other options. International sanctions further prohibit all maintenance, support, insurance, and leasing services to Russian airlines.
The landing gear replacement procedure is a scheduled operation performed on Airbus A330 aircraft every ten years or every 20,000 flight cycles, whichever comes first.
Iran comes as a natural choice for aircraft maintenance as the country does not support anti-Russian sanctions and is not afraid of secondary sanctions from the United States or the European Union thus minimising the risk of the aircraft's owners seizing the aircraft.
Previously Lufthansa Technik conducted maintenance, repair and overhaul on Aeroflot’s fleet for over 15 years. Aeroflot also signed an agreement to maintain and overhaul aircraft components with Hong Kong HAECO in 2021 which never materialised due to sanctions.