How Russia will support domestic aircraft production
Russia will spend $ 14.5 billion to increase aircraft production and face Western sanctions for war in Ukraine
Russia will pump money to support the country's aviation industry.
The Moscow government announced on Monday plans to invest 770 billion rubles ($ 14.5 billion) by the end of this decade to increase the share of domestically-made aircraft. Reuters reported.
The aviation industry has been in crisis since the West imposed sanctions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, banning Russian airlines from flying to destinations in Europe, the United States and other countries.
At the same time, foreign aircraft manufacturers have stopped delivering new aircraft, while spare parts for foreign-built aircraft are in short supply.
At the end of May, there were 876 planes in the Russian commercial jet fleet, according to data provided by Ascend from Cirium, an aviation consultancy, down from 968 planes at the end of February, reports Wired UK . Most of these aircraft are made by the manufacturers Airbus or Boeing. And they both stopped supplying spare parts to Russian airlines to adhere to the sanctions rules.
All the details.
GOAL OF RUSSIA: INCREASE THE NUMBER OF NATIONAL PRODUCTION PLANES
Moscow ready to invest nearly 15 billion dollars to increase the number of Russian aircraft over the decade.
"The share of domestically produced aircraft in the Russian airline fleet is expected to grow to 81% by 2030," Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov said on June 27.
LOCATE PRODUCTION
As Reuters recalls, Russia has pushed to localize aircraft production, but only the regional Sukhoi Superjet aircraft is mass-produced within Russia. But a significant number of its components, including vital engine parts, are imported.
According to the program, Russian airlines are expected to receive around 1,000 new locally built aircraft by 2030. The country is preparing to mass produce the MS-21 medium-range aircraft, which also has some foreign components. It also plans to start building a small number of Soviet-designed Tu-214s.
The Vedomosti newspaper previously reported that Aeroflot, the largest Russian air carrier, may soon sign a contract with the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) to purchase 300 new aircraft.
THE EFFECTS OF THE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN AIR TRANSPORT
The sanctions, coupled with the global slowdown caused by Covid-19, have cut a huge chunk of Russia's international air traffic, according to Cirium's consulting firm Ascend, picked up by Wired UK . “The number of aircraft it tracked on international flights on June 10 was 179, up from 493 on January 3, 2020. This is largely due to the fact that about 70% of the Russian airline Aeroflot's aircraft are chartered by an airline that recalled its planes, according to Bijan Vasigh, an economics professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, ”reports Wired UK .
This means that if these planes land in most European countries, they will be confiscated. But while international travel is stalled, domestic air travel within Russia continues at a steady pace. Ascend by Cirium tracked 456 planes flying across the country on June 10, 30 more than 2.5 years ago.
THE PROBLEMS OF THE RUSSIAN AVIATION
The planes are still flying, but the spare parts are not arriving, Wired points out. So what's going on? "Most likely, Russian operators will have to cannibalize any other aircraft they have," says Volodymyr Bilotkach, associate professor of air transport management at the Singapore Institute of Technology.
“They don't have permission to get any kind of part from Boeing or Airbus,” says Vasigh. “The transfer of any part or technical expertise to Russia is prohibited”. The problem is that planes need constant maintenance, repairs and replacements.
Precisely for this reason the Moscow government has decided to circumvent the problem by investing directly in the aviation industry.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/come-la-russia-sosterra-la-produzione-nazionale-di-aerei/ on Mon, 04 Jul 2022 05:37:31 +0000.