A court has ordered Airbus to hand back millions of dollars to a Russian lessor

Airbus has been ordered to return millions of dollars to a Russian lessor following the non-delivery of widebody jets. Presenting its case to the Arbitration Court of Moscow state-owned defence corporation Rostec confirmed it had paid the European manufacturer a “security deposit” of $5.1m in December 2019 on behalf of subsidiary Aviacapital-Service in relation to a preliminary contract to supply 17 A350s for onward delivery to Aeroflot.

In its judgement of June 28, the court ruled in favour of Rostec, noting since the main contract had not been concluded, the deposit should be returned.

The European manufacturer has already returned almost $200m on advances to the flag carrier for four undelivered A350s. It denied the amount received from Rostec was a deposit, telling the court the arrangement with the lessor was “not gratuitous” and Aviacapital-Service had received favourable conditions including a 50% discount on list price based on delivery of the first aircraft within two years. It added it had twice extended the memorandum, worth more than $2bn in total, but the deal had not taken place because Aeroflot had refused to accept the A350s.

It is not immediately clear whether Airbus intends to challenge the decision.