United Arab Emirates-based AP Holdings Ltd., which owns 49% of Constanta Airlines (UZA, Zaporizhzhia), has opposed the Ukrainian carrier's application for a US Foreign Air Carrier Permit (FACP), citing the breach of terms of leases of three An-26s.
The lessor, which owns one An-26, one An-26B, and one An-26B-100 operated by Constanta Airlines, said the Ukrainian airline was in long-term breach of the leases by operating the turboprops without its consent and in war zones.
"[The] Lessee had been operating and basing Lessor's aircraft in places such as Mali, Georgia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Tunisia, and Somalia, all without the knowledge or written approval of Lessor and in violation of the explicit prohibitions of the lease regarding the operation of the leased aircraft commercially, apart from on behalf of Lessor, and in war conflict areas," the Emirati holding said in its filing with the US Department of Transportation (DOT).
Specifically, AP Holdings alleged that Constanta Airlines deployed one of the aircraft, UR-CZB (msn 113-05), on behalf its co-owner Expedition Aviation in Iraq and Afghanistan, mostly from a base in Georgia, starting in August 2018. This deployment, done without the explicit permission of AP Holdings, breached the terms of its lease.
Following the start of the deployment, AP Holdings has been trying to obtain operational reports from Constanta Airlines since August 2018, but only received them in March 2020.
The lessor further alleged that the breaches have continued as another An-26, UR-CEP (msn 2208), was repositioned to Mali in June 2020 and currently operates in the strife-prone West African country.
AP Holdings underlined that it had not been consulted let alone notified of Constanta Airlines' application for an FACP, filed in February 2020.
"The tardiness of this objection is, in fact, the result of the same said lack of notice, and as of the date of this Objection Constanta has still never done so, all the while acknowledging within the application itself that AP Holdings’ ownership of Constanta is equivalent to that of its largest other shareholder, Roman Mileshko, at 49%," AP Holdings pointed out.
In its FACP application, Constanta Airlines sought to deploy An-26s on cargo charter flights between Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The airline's shareholders are AP Holdings and Mileshko (who in turns owns a 40% stake in Expedition Aviation and a 74.3% in Encompass LLC), each with a 49% stake, and Mikhail Moiseenko with a 2% stake. The carrier operates eight An-26s (three leased from AP Holdings and five from Expedition Aviation) and one An-28 (leased from Expedition Aviation).
