This was stated on Espreso TV by Hennadiy Khazan, president of the Ukrainian Aviation Association of Pilots and Aircraft Owners "AOPA Ukraine."“What is a hacker attack? It’s when an airline uses electronic databases and communicates via emails. All data on departures, arrivals, pre-flight preparations, aircraft maintenance — it all sits on their servers,” he explained.Khazan added that over a year ago, hackers began infiltrating this system — and managed to get deep inside.“This has now led to a huge collapse in that airline — we’re talking about Aeroflot. During the attack, around 120 flights to and from Moscow didn’t land; they were just let go. A massive number of servers — about 7,000, both virtual and physical — were damaged or physically destroyed,” he said.He stressed that restoring the database could take anywhere from several months to several years, depending on estimates.“Will it be fully restored? I have huge doubts. I believe the consequences will be dire and seriously threaten the future of this company. Additionally, as a side effect, our hackers got access to the entire passenger database. And I want to remind you — Aeroflot is Russia’s largest airline. So now, all personal data of everyone who flew with Aeroflot is in databases somewhere on our side. Specially trained people will definitely examine and analyze them, drawing conclusions — conclusions very unfavorable for the Russian Federation as an aggressor state, and for this airline in particular,” Khazan noted.In his view, this cyberattack is a major blow to Russia’s civil aviation, already in decline.“My colleagues and I estimate that a serious collapse leading to the downfall of Russian aviation could happen in under two years,” he stated.Khazan clarified that this estimate was made a day before the cyberattack.“Now, I believe it might happen even sooner — a serious process is underway, one that will completely destroy the structure of Russian civil aviation, including aircraft maintenance, operation, airworthiness certification, and aviation personnel training. Destroying it takes a few years — restoring it takes decades. Russia is already rapidly descending toward a decisive end to what’s known as Russian civil aviation,” he concluded.On July 28, Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, reported a major failure in its IT systems, resulting in the cancellation of flights to several cities. Hacker groups Silent Crow and Cyber Partisans BY claimed responsibility. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said a criminal case had been opened for illegal access to computer information.On Tuesday, July 29, the state-owned Aeroflot again canceled more than 50 flights to and from Moscow.