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Aircraft in 'Russian airfield' photo not Lion Air's, says spokesman
Lion Air stated on Wednesday that the two pictured aircraft had been returned to their lessor in 2021 after their contract expired.
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A photograph extracted from a post dated March 12, 2023 on the Twitter account of Turkish civil aviation website HavaSosyalMedya show two aircraft bearing the livery of Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air, allegedly at a Russian airfield. The accompanying caption neither identifies the airfield nor the date of the original photograph. (The Jakarta Post/Twitter/HavaSosyalMedya)
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n response to a viral photo showing two planes bearing Lion Air livery parked on a snowy airfield, allegedly in Russia, Indonesia's biggest low-cost carrier has issued a statement saying that the two Boeing aircraft are no longer part of its operational fleet.
A Lion Air spokesperson said in a statement published on Wednesday that the two Boeing 737-900ER aircraft had been reclaimed by their leasing company after the operations contract expired in 2021.
"Lion Air always honors decisions made in any agreement [...] with lessors. We always strive to build a good relationship with lessors and ensure that the process of returning any aircraft is done according to procedure," the statement reads.
The airliner also said it no longer had any control over where the two aircraft were kept after the contract expired.
"The aircraft are no longer operated by or in the control of Lion Air," it said.
The two Boeing 737-900 aircraft bearing the Lion Air logo appear in a photograph posted on March 12 on the Twitter account of HavaSosyalMedya, which bills itself as “Turkey's largest and most active ‘registered’ civil aviation platform”.
"While embargoes against Russia continued, S7 Airlines managed to bring two B737-900 type aircraft from Indonesian Lion Air to Russia,” says the accompanying caption in Turkish, referring to a carrier based in Novosibirsk Oblast, southwestern Siberia.
