Wednesday, August. 20, 2003
The Moscow Times
ZHUKOVSKY, Moscow Region -- A sleek white Airbus 320 parked smack at the front of the display area greeted visitors on the first day of the 6th Moscow Aviation and Space Show on Tuesday. The plane was a somewhat jarring sight at a biannual air show aimed at showing off Russian-made aircraft and the latest Russian defense equipment. So while President Vladimir Putin and the thousands had their eyes glued on Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters -- and U.S. military planes took to the skies above the Zhukovsky airfield for the first time -- that Airbus paid a silent tribute Tuesday to the state of the civil aviation industry.
The plane, which flew in Monday night, is operated by Armenia's Armavia, itself majority controlled by Russia's No. 2 airline Sibir. Sibir officials bought out Armavia last year in an attempt to find a way around steep Russian taxes on Western planes.
As major Russian planemakers such as Ilyushin and Tupolev were at the air show Tuesday touting their latest models and upgrades, Sibir effectively was showing off its acquisition of the type of aircraft that other Russian airlines would like to have.
"Russia does not have aircraft that will meet stringent European environmental limitations in 2006. We will have no choice but to lose market share or lease foreign jets," said Vadim Marusov, head of Sibir's fleet department.
Sibir, which has a fleet of 46 Tupolevs and Ilyushins, is looking to lease up to 40 jets in the next five years and has an eye on the A-320 and Boeing 757-200 and 737. Some 10 foreign aircraft are to join its fleet starting next year, Marusov said, adding that the global airline slump has cut leasing prices and made taxes less of an issue.
Armavia plans to lease its first two ATR-42 turboprops this fall.
Sibir, which carried more passengers within Russia than any other airline last year, has routes for short-, medium- and long-range planes, but its officials said Tuesday that they were certainly not looking at the long-haul four-engine Il-96 parked right across from the Airbus.
Sibir is not the only airline to criticize Il-96, which the aviation industry sees as one of its major projects. State-controlled Aeroflot, which operates six Il-96 jets, is fiercely opposed to an offer for six more from the plane's producer in Voronezh and the Ilyushin Finance Co. leasing company.
Aeroflot CEO Valery Okulov, speaking on the eve of the air show, told a round table that Russian-built planes, including the Il-96, are up to 40 percent less efficient than their Western counterparts.
Aeroflot has only 27 foreign planes in its fleet of more than 100 aircraft, and Okulov said the large ratio of Russian jets threatened to thwart plans to double passenger numbers to 12 million by 2010.
"The airline sector should not be treated as an appendage to the aviation industry," he said in remarks clearly directed toward the government.
"The Russian aviation industry is unable to meet the demand of airlines for new aircraft."
He warned that if airlines are not given the option of buying foreign planes, the airline industry will go the route of the trucking industry, which is now monopolized by foreign companies.
Transportation Minister Sergei Frank said Tuesday, however, that he hopes a contract for six Il-96s will be signed before the air show ends Sunday.
"All great things are accomplished by overcoming the 'I can't,'" he said as he visited the air show with Putin's delegation.
The first day of the air show did net a few contracts -- for Russian passenger planes. Transaero, which operates a Boeing-only fleet, quietly signed a deal for four 166-seat Tu-204-300 aircraft with Ilyushin Finance and the Aviastar-SP manufacturing plant. The planes will be delivered in 2004 and 2005, and the contract is thought to be worth $100 million.
The Samara airline signed a contract to buy two An-140 turboprops from the Kharkov aviation plant. The planes are to be delivered next year.
Stepping out of his helicopter Tuesday morning, Putin made a tour of the display of military jets with AVPK Sukhoi chief Mikhail Pogosyan and air force commander Vladimir Mikhailov. Putin peeped into the cabin of a Su-27SM, checked out a T-160 bomber and got into a Be-200 amphibious aircraft -- which is first model of the plane to be delivered and is a firefighting variant for the Emergency Situations Ministry.
At the Sukhoi exhibit, Putin patted a forward-swept wing Su-47 prototype of a next-generation fighter, which he later saw soar overhead with Su-30 and Su-35 jets. He then visited rival RSK MiG's stand and was presented with a model of the planned Russian Regional Jet by Boeing Russia president Sergei Kravchenko.
Putin also found a moment to chat in German with Rainer Hertrich, co-chief executive of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., Interfax reported.
Winding up his 1 1/2-hour tour, Putin watched a demo flight by a F-15 U.S. fighter.
"As a whole, the president was pleased with the show and, for us, his appraisal is very important because organizing such a show involves a lot of work," Industry, Science and Technology Minister Ilya Klebanov, told reporters.
Klebanov, reiterating comments made last week, said it looked like the August air show would eclipse its Western rivals. The United States largely boycotted the Paris Air Show in June over France's opposition to the war in Iraq.
In addition to two F-15s, which flew to the air show in an unprecedented display of military-to-military contacts between Russia and the United States, the U.S. European Command has sent a C-130 military transport plane and will send a B-52 bomber to land on Russian soil for the first time Wednesday.
F-15E pilot Matthew Worling said in an interview that this was his first visit to Russia and that he was impressed with the stunts performed by Russian fighter jets, especially the Su-27.
Asked whether he thought Russian or American fighter jets were better, he replied with a laugh: "It depends on the pilot. It depends on the experience of the pilot."