An Aeroflot Airbus has been sitting at Geneva Airport for over four years. Parking fees continue to be paid. The operator remains a mystery.

Geneva Airport has experience with abandoned aircraft. For a full 14 years, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's jet sat in a long-term parking area on the northeast side of the airport. An Aeroflot Airbus A321 has also been located there for about four and a half years.

The jet, bearing the registration VP-BOE, has been stranded in the French-speaking part of Switzerland since February 27, 2022ùthe day Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Airbus arrived from Moscow in the early afternoon and was scheduled to fly back as flight SU2385 around 4:00 PM. However, German airspace had already been closed to Russian aircraft. Attempts to use alternative routes via France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey failed: just as the Aeroflot A321 was taxiing to the runway, Italy also closed its airspace. The aircraft turned back, and the passengers disembarked. It has remained in Geneva ever since.

It has now been there for over 1,660 days. The A321 has been moved only once. In June 2022, it had to vacate parking stand P48 because the Swiss Air Force needed the space for a UN conference. The Airbus was subsequently moved to its current location in the northwest, north of the terminal.

No one is permitted to enter or move the Airbus without authorization from the authorities. Since then, the aircraft has been left to rot in the parking area. The newspaper *Le Temps* reports that nothing has changed inside the cabin since the scheduled takeoff on February 27, 2022.

The fuel tanks remain full, and the meals served at the time are reportedly still on board, causing a stench of rotting food. A rodent infestation is also considered a possibility.

Interestingly, despite the aircraft's deterioration, the parking fees continue to be paid. According to airport Director General Jean-Franτois de Saussure, the owner pays 30,000 francs per monthùequating to 984
francs per day.

Calculated over time, this amounts to more than 1.6 million francs since February 2022. However, the airport declined to confirm whether the fees had actually been settled throughout the entire period the plane has been parked there.

The identity of the owner remains unclear. The aircraft was operated by Aeroflot. Its owner was the Russian leasing company GTLKùspecifically, its Dublin-based subsidiary, GTLK Europe DAC. Following sanctions against Russia, Irish authorities placed this subsidiary into liquidation in 2023.

The Irish firm Teneo Restructuring Ireland has been tasked with locating, seizing, and selling GTLK assets situated outside Russia in order to compensate aggrieved creditors.

Teneo has reportedly tracked down, and in some cases already sold, around 70 aircraft and approximately 20 ships. Theoretically, therefore, the Airbus A321 parked in Geneva should also be sold by the company.

But now a new problem has arisen: the jet is in a deplorable state. It has undergone no maintenance for four and a half years; the engines were not even fitted with protective covers. Some of the electronics are also considered obsolete. Furthermore, structural cracks have reportedly already appeared.

The hurdles for returning the aircraft to the skies would be correspondingly high: new engines and wheels would be required, as well as the replacement of virtually all electronic systems. The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) confirmed that the aircraft's condition currently rules out a takeoff.
Consequently, airport staff and various experts state bluntly: the Airbus is unlikely to ever fly again.

Dismantling the jet appears the most likely outcome.

What happens next? According to Laurent Chassot, a Geneva-based lawyer specializing in aviation law, there is only one legal path forward: a voluntary sale by the liquidator, Teneo, or a sale of the aircraftùor its individual componentsùforced by a creditor. Resale as a complete unit is considered unlikely given the aircraft's condition.

--- DB4 - 20260902
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)