The aerobatic team "Wings of Tavrida", created this year, will perform in the flight program of MAKS-2015 / Vladimir Sergeev / RIA Novosti

On Monday, the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2015 will open in Zhukovsky near Moscow – the First Eurasian Aerospace Congress will be opened. The official opening is scheduled for Tuesday – President Vladimir Putin will attend the salon. Two years ago, he did not go to MAKS – the salon was opened by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. But it is already clear that during the salon, it is unlikely that more contracts will be signed than in 2013. At MAKS-2013, the sum of contracts was $21.2 billion – this was a record for the Moscow air show. “It would be great if the volume remained the same,” says Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Andrei Boginsky. But it is much more important that the contracts are well-developed so that they can be implemented later, he adds.

Middle East Demand

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The most anticipated moments of the MAKS-2015 flight program

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Iranian Vice President Surna Sattari will visit the salon on Tuesday, Interfax reports, citing a source at the Iranian embassy in Moscow. “It is planned,” the MAKS-2015 representative responded to a question about the possibility of Sattari’s visit. A contract for the supply of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran worth about $1 billion is currently close to being signed, says a source close to the management of Rosoboronexport. In 2010, then-President Dmitry Medvedev suspended the contract for the supply of Russian S-300PMU-1 anti-aircraft missile systems due to American sanctions imposed on Iran. This year, Putin decided to continue fulfilling the contract. A Rosoboronexport representative declined to comment.

The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) plans to sign a major contract at MAKS – about the delivery of 50 Su-35 fighters to the Russian Ministry of Defense by 2020, the contract amount is up to 100 billion rubles, two top managers of the aviation industry and a source in the Ministry of Defense said. The Tikhomirov Research Institute of Instrument Making (part of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern) plans to sign a contract for the modernization of the Bars onboard radar, which is equipped with multi-role fighters of the Su-30 family, Interfax writes with reference to an interview with Yuri Bely, General Director of the Tikhomirov Research Institute of Instrument Making, given to the Independent Military Review.

Hoping for government support

The State Transport Leasing Company ( GTLK ) and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (SCAC; part of UAC ) may sign a contract for the supply of Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) aircraft, Boginsky said. In the spring, the government decided to recapitalize GTLK by 30 billion rubles. With this money, it will be able to purchase 32 aircraft that regional airlines could lease, with rates calculated in rubles. Potential customers for 32 SSJ100 from GTLK are the companies Center-South, Yamal, Orenburzhye, and Red Wings (this was announced in mid-July by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov). As Boginsky explained to Vedomosti, GTLK is currently also negotiating the purchase of aircraft under this program, in particular, with the Angara company, and Ural Airlines is also “expressing interest.”

A UAC representative confirmed that a "major" contract for the supply of SSJ100 aircraft to GTLK is planned. The GTLK representative declined to comment on this. In addition, GTLK may sign a preliminary agreement on the supply of SSJ100 to a foreign customer, Boginsky said. An agreement on the supply of 15 aircraft to Kazakhstan's largest airline, Scat, may be signed, according to two sources close to different parties to the deal. Scat currently has Boeing and Bombardier in its fleet. The airline leases Boeing from GTLK. GTLK and SCAC representatives declined to comment on this information. It was not possible to obtain comments from a Scat representative. The catalog price of 15 aircraft is up to $540 million.

Not everyone arrived

The number of MAKS-2015 participants is less than in 2013. This year, 760 companies from 25 countries will take part in the salon. The traditional participants of the salon – Ukrainian Motor Sich, Antonov and Ivchenko Progress – will not come to Zhukovsky. The list of participants from Ukraine includes only the State Enterprise Lugansk Aircraft Repair Plant.

Sberbank Leasing plans to convert the agreement signed at the last MAKS for the delivery of 20 new MS-21 aircraft into a firm contract, said Oleg Demchenko, president of the Irkut Corporation (the aircraft manufacturer) (his words were reported by Interfax). He also said that the contract with Sberbank Leasing will provide for an option for another 30 aircraft. Commercial operation of the MS-21 will begin only in 2018 – at MAKS-2015, a video broadcast from Irkutsk will show the joining of two parts of the fuselage of this new aircraft. A representative of Sberbank Leasing declined to comment on this information. The total catalog value of the agreement for 20 MS-21, announced at the last MAKS, was $1.7 billion.

Sberbank-Leasing may sign another contract with Aeroflot. RIA Novosti wrote about the contract for 10 SSJ100 in mid-July, citing the acting CEO of the leasing company, Kirill Tsarev. These 10 aircraft are the last part of the contract for the supply of 30 aircraft, signed by Aeroflot and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft in 2005; 20 aircraft are already in the airline's fleet. The catalog price of 10 SSJ100 is up to $360 million. This will be an operating leasing contract, which currently provides benefits. An Aeroflot representative said that the company does not plan to sign agreements at the airshow. A Sberbank-Leasing representative declined to comment to Vedomosti on this contract. The UAC representative did the same.

The current salon is unlikely to catch up with the previous one in terms of the number of contracts and their amount, believes the editor-in-chief of the "Air Transport Review" Alexey Sinitsky. The aviation business is in crisis and companies, trying to maintain a stable financial position, are, on the contrary, reducing their fleet. According to Sinitsky, about 100 aircraft were removed from the fleet of Russian companies over the winter.

Can't sell without government support