MOSCOW. June 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The formation of a major aircraft-making company in Russia meets industry interests, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Alyoshin has said.
Asked whether the government will support the proposal to form a single aircraft-making company he said, "This would be correct. There are two conditions that affect the operations of any aircraft producer. The company must be diversified, not one- sided. And it should have a wide range of models. If these two conditions are not observed, we won't gain back the added value."
In an interview published in the Gazeta newspaper on Wednesday he also said the Russian aviation industry should be integrated with the international aircraft-producing community.
"The world is changing and no single national company, even a major one, is guaranteed against failures. A situation could emerge in which five or six companies will control all the manufactured products. And if we fail to join this cooperation at the level of units and components, we will not gain back the added value and will be left with only one alternative, delivering ore," Alyoshin said.
In his opinion, import duties on foreign aircraft might be dropped because Russian planes will not be allowed into Europe for not fulfilling international noise and emission requirements.
"We have found ourselves in an extremely unconventional situation, and judging from everything the decisions to be made will be unconventional. On the one hand, it is very difficult to keep a market closed for a long time. On the other, the price of opening the border is too great, because a large number of people in Russia are employed in the aerospace industry. In my opinion, projects for jointly developing aircraft would be of interest. For instance, for RRJ medium-distance aircraft. There could be a decision under which Russian airlines will buy foreign aircraft on condition that foreign companies buy Russian equipment," he said.