Economics

17:01, 14.03.2008 | Russia

Airbus’ programme of industrial cooperation with Russian enterprises in 2008 has been estimated at 130 million U.S. dollars and may grow to 230 million U.S. dollars in 2009.

The 10-year cooperation programme will bring Russia a total of 800 million U.S. dollars in revenue, the head of the representative offices of Airbus Company and the European aerospace and defence concern EADS in Russia, Vadim Vlasov, said on Wednesday.
The West European aircraft maker is developing industrial cooperation with Russia in four key areas: research and the development of new technologies, aircraft design, the production of Airbus plane components in Russia, and the purchase of materials in Russia for European planes.
Airbus plans to gradually increase the number of its orders placed with Russian enterprises to make components or its planes.
According to Vlasov, 400 million U.S. dollars worth of orders had been placed with Russian enterprises in 2004-2005 for 10 years.
Full attestation of components for European passenger planes made in Russia will be completed in the first half of this year. Mass production is scheduled for the end of 2008.
The first A320 planes converted at Russian enterprises for cargo transportation are expected to be delivered at the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012.
Vlasov said that a Russian-European joint venture had been created in April 2007 for the conversion of A320 planes, and design work had begun at the end of last year.
The project involves Russia’s MiG and Irkut companies, Europe’s Airbus and EADS Elbe Flugzeugwerke plant in Dresden.
Airbus is also implementing a number of projects together with the Interstate Aviation Committee and Russian aviation authorities. In particular, the consortium is assisting in the certification of the Be-200 amphibious plane by European standard.
According to Airbus forecasts, Russia is among the world’s top ten leading nations in terms of aircraft market needs for the next decade.
Russia will need 921 planes by 2026, including 793 narrow-bodied and 128 wide-bodied planes, worth 79 billion U.S. dollars.
This makes Russia sixth in terms of number and eighth in terms of value after the United States, China, Britain, Germany, and India.
According to Airbus, Russia’s plane fleet in 2006 was 528 aircraft and will grow to 688 by 2016. This makes Russia’s market of passenger planes attractive to Airbus that plans to increase its presence in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Vlasov said.
As of February 2008, there were 92 Airbus planes operating in the CIS, including 38 A319 planes, 32 A320 planes, 12 A321 planes, and 10 A310planes.
The West European plane maker has received orders for the supply of 11 planes to CIS countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Uzbekistan.
Five Russian airlines have signed agreements with Airbus for the supply of 94 planes, including 50 for Aeroflot, 5 for Rossiya, 29 for Sibir, 9 for Ural Airlines, and one for Vladivostok Avia.
The company estimates that CIS countries will need 1,290 new planes in the coming decades.