airBaltic (BT, Riga) has denied accusations of violating European Union sanctions by purchasing Russian-made jet fuel. The Latvian flag carrier came under the spotlight after Russian independent media outlet Verstka claimed that the carrier had conducted illegal business activities with two sanctioned fuel providers.
airBaltic denied the accusations, adding that it had stopped trading with the sanctioned Russian companies and that it "distances itself from any unfounded claims".
The carrier allegedly attempted to make 28 kerosene purchases from two fuel companies between February 2022 and March 2024, Verstka reported citing Russian custom declarations. It said airBaltic conducted 13 successful fuel transactions, two with Gazpromneft-Aero in 2022 and eleven with Tatneftaeroservice in 2023.
Fifteen purchases were labelled as "cancelled", of which eleven were supposed to be executed in 2022, one in 2023, and three in 2024. Customs declarations show that airBaltic bought 3,100 tonnes of fuel for RUB206.7 million rubles (USD2.5 million). It was reportedly exported from Russia by air to other countries but it remains unclear how it could have reached airBaltic's aircraft.
airBaltic told ch-aviation that it had not collaborated with Russian fuel suppliers since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the enforcement of EU sanctions.
It noted that the last payments to Gazpromneft-Aero were made in March and April 2022 for services provided in Lisbon in March 2022, before sanctions were implemented. It said the last payment to Tatneftaeroservice was made in November 2021 for advance fuel purchase in Kazan.
"The aforementioned [customs] database does not provide complete and verifiable information about the company’s transactions," airBaltic said.
