| Voronezh Aircraft Plant sold two aircraft Krasnoyarsk Airlines (KrasAir) will today enter into a leasing agreement for the purchase of two Il-96-300 passenger airliners. The supplier of the aircraft will be the Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Company (VASO), a plant that mass-produces these long-haul aircraft. The financing of the transaction was undertaken by the leasing company Ilyushin-finance (IFK). The general directors of KrasAir, Boris Abramovich, and IFC, Alexander Rubtsov, will fly to VASO today to sign a trilateral contract.
As a source close to the deal told the Vremya Novostei newspaper, the lease agreement will last for 15 years. Il-96-300 should replenish the KrasAir fleet at the end of the summer of this year or at the beginning of autumn.
VASO's intention to fulfill the contract so quickly makes one think that KrasAir aircraft will be built not from scratch, but using the existing fuselage and wings. Meanwhile, mass production at the aircraft plant is now carried out purely nominally. In recent years, VASO has produced only one Il-96-300 aircraft - the “presidential aircraft” commissioned by the airline State Transport Company Rossiya. Vladimir Putin now travels on it. On December 30, 2003, after many years of negotiations, a leasing contract was signed for the supply of six Il-96-300s to Aeroflot. To fulfill this order, as reported then, the plant intended to use its entire stock of assembled fuselages. The contract with Aeroflot provides for the delivery of aircraft in the second half of 2005 - one aircraft per month.
Aeroflot Deputy General Director Lev Koshlyakov told the Vremya Novostey newspaper that he knows nothing about the fact that the fuselages intended for Aeroflot could be used by factory workers to fulfill a more urgent KrasAir order. However, Mr. Koshlyakov noted: “How exactly VASO will fulfill its contractual obligations is a matter for VASO itself. “Aeroflot only expects that the contract with it will be fulfilled within the agreed time frame.”
At the beginning of this year, KrasAir - the first of the Russian regional airlines - began the procedure for acquiring foreign long-haul passenger aircraft: two Boeing-767s. Now the documents for this transaction are being reviewed by the Russian Ministry of Transport. In terms of passenger traffic, KrasAir ranks fourth among the country's airlines. The company's aircraft fleet includes 37 aircraft, all of them made in Russia. 51% of KrasAir shares are controlled by the state. According to unofficial information, aviation authorities “recommended” the company to purchase two domestic Il-96-300s as a condition for a favorable decision for KrasAir to import two Boeing-767s. Mikhail KUKUSHKIN |
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