Putin criticises Russian aviation industry

Airline Industry Information, Feb 23, 2005

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Russian President Vladimir Putin criticised the country's domestic aircraft manufacturers on Tuesday (22 February), saying that they were uncompetitive.

In Soviet times domestic aircraft manufacturers such as Tupolev and Ilyushin accounted for more than a quarter of the world's aerospace production, according to Reuters. Currently production and research levels are only a fraction of what they were during Cold War years and domestic airlines like Aeroflot have already started to replace their ageing fleets with Western-built aircraft. Civilian aircraft are becoming uncompetitive, their attractiveness is falling and they do not meet international levels of comfort, said Putin.

On the other hand military producers, such as Sukhoi and MiG, are currently exporting two-thirds of Russia's total arms sales and making revenue of more than USD3bn per year.

Putin said that opening up the sector to private investment should help it develop. He did not specify whether he meant domestic or international investment, reported Reuters.

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