BIS renews export denial orders on four Russian airlines, citing 75 flights

The US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has renewed its temporary denial orders against four Russian airlines, citing 75 flights between 9 March and 26 August 2026 that it says were operated with aircraft subject to US export controls. The orders on Aeroflot, UTair and Azur Air are dated 11 September and were published in the Federal Register on 17 September. The order on Ural Airlines is dated 24 September and was published on 29 September. Each was signed by David A. Peters, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement, and each says it is "effective immediately and shall remain in effect for one year".

Each order cites "a pattern of repeated, ongoing and/or continuous apparent violations" and says "there is a likelihood of imminent violations". The UTair order describes the conduct as "significant, deliberate, covert and/or likely to occur again". The orders classify the aircraft under Export Control Classification Number 9A991.b. The flight tables show Boeing 737-800s and 777-300ERs at Aeroflot, 737-800s at UTair, 757-200s at Azur Air and Airbus A320 and A321 jets at Ural.

A renewal cycle that began in 2022

The Aeroflot, UTair and Azur Air orders trace back to 7 April 2022. The procedural history in each lists renewals on 3 October 2022, 29 March 2023, 23 September 2023, 20 September 2024 and 16 September 2025, as the Azur Air order sets out. Ural's first order was signed on 13 October 2022 for 180 days, and the Ural text lists renewals on 10 April 2023, 6 October 2023, 4 October 2024 and 30 September 2025. BIS says in that order that it submitted its written request to renew the Ural order on 13 August 2026.

Where the flights went

The tables list 20 flights each for Aeroflot, UTair and Azur Air and 15 for Ural, on 15 aircraft in all. They identify flights by city and country, not by airport, and the Ural order says the information "includes, but is not limited to" the flights tabulated. A count of the four tables shows that 60 of the 75 flights touch a country other than Russia:

• Türkiye: 14 flights to or from Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman, 10 of them by Azur Air and two each by Aeroflot and UTair.
• Tajikistan: 11 flights to or from Dushanbe, Khujand and Kulob, nine by Ural and two by UTair.
• Uzbekistan: five UTair flights to or from Samarkand, Bukhara and Fergana.
• Armenia and Azerbaijan: UTair flights to or from Yerevan (four) and Baku (three).
• Georgia: two Ural flights from Sukhumi to Moscow, on 17 and 26 August. The order lists the city as Sukhumi, Georgia.
• Elsewhere: Thailand (12 flights), the Maldives (four), Vietnam (three) and Egypt (two), flown by Aeroflot and Azur Air.

What the orders bar

The first operative paragraph prohibits each airline, its successors, agents and employees from taking part in any transaction involving items subject to the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The UTair order, for example, lists ordering, buying, receiving, using, selling, delivering, storing, financing and "otherwise servicing in any way" among the barred activities.

A second paragraph reaches any person. In the UTair text, no person may, directly or indirectly, export, reexport or transfer an item subject to the EAR to or on behalf of the airline, help it acquire such items, acquire items from it, or "service any item, of whatever origin, that is owned, possessed or controlled by UTair". The order defines servicing as "installation, maintenance, repair, modification, or testing". Each prohibition carries an exception for activity "directly related to safety of flight", and the clauses on dealing in items and on servicing also require authorisation from BIS under section 764.3(a)(2) of the EAR.

Other companies can be drawn in. The UTair order says that persons related to the airline by ownership, control, position of responsibility or affiliation may be made subject to it after notice and an opportunity to comment under section 766.23 of the EAR. Under section 766.24(e) of the EAR, Aeroflot and Ural may each appeal at any time by filing a written statement with the Coast Guard's Administrative Law Judge docketing centre in Baltimore, according to their orders.