The Estonian Aviation Center is unable to recover the “Antonov” aircraft from Lithuania

Published: 2024-04-29 10:28

On April 10, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal rejected the request of the Estonian Aviation Center to attach and allow the enforcement in Lithuania of the August 2020 decision of the Estonian Harju District Court that the Estonian company owns the Antonov AN-2 aircraft and that it is its owner according to the 2013 sales agreement signed with Birel.

According to the court, the Estonian court did not have the right to decide the question of ownership of the plane, because it is located on the territory of Lithuania.

Ownership rights and other real rights to immovable and movable objects are determined according to the laws of the country where the object was located at the time of the change in its legal status. (…) The document submitted to the first court is clear that the indicated aircraft is located in the territory of Lithuania, in Klaipda, the Court of Appeal decided.

The Estonian Aviation Center claimed to the court that according to the 2013 agreement, it is the owner of the aircraft, but in the Lithuanian registry its owner is a Lithuanian citizen.

The company EAC Aircraft Sales, which participated in the case, also indicated to the court that the judgment of the Estonian court shows that the seller of the plane agreed with the demand of the Estonian Aviation Center, therefore the court added that the plane belongs to the Estonian company.

The Estonian company wants to register the aircraft in the Lithuanian register and register it in the Estonian aircraft register, but that company needs to join and be allowed to execute the judgment of the Estonian court.

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