Russia targets world with new jet range
By M. COREY GOLDMAN, FORWARD
Toronto Star, Canada
Sept 6 2004
While the aviation industry has had its fair share of setbacks over
the past few years, people are still flying and airlines are still
buying aircraft..
Lots of countries are content with the status quo. While many have
their own national passenger airline, they typically don’t go to the
trouble and expense of developing their own planes that outside their
own borders would have to compete with the two giant makers, Airbus
and Boeing Co, not to mention No. 3, Bombardier with its Canadair
and de Havilland offerings.
Except in Russia, where things are a little different thanks to 70-plus
years of communist rule that made innovation in the aerospace industry
a priority — though mainly for the military, not for the kinds of
planes regular people ride on.
But over the past 10 years, Russia’s aerospace companies have been
working hard developing new kinds of jets that they hope will not
only be embraced by the country’s own airlines but find markets around
the globe.
They’ve also been trying to show the world that they make good planes
— jetliners that will be reliable and safe, despite having emerged
from the depths of Design Bureaus and state-owned manufacturing plants.
One initiative, called the Russian Regional Jet program, or RRJ,
has some big backers. The program, which will soon produce three
different-sized small jets, a 60-seater, a 75-seater and a 98-seater,
is being developed by Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft with support
from Boeing, which is working as a consultant on the deal.
Sukhoi hopes to deliver from 800 to 1,000 RRJs through 2022, and has
just announced an order for 50 RRJ-95 aircraft from Sibir, Russia’s
second-biggest carrier. Russia’s NPO Saturn and France’s Snecma Moteurs
are involved in designing the propulsion system of the new aircraft.
What it points to is a shift away from Russian aircraft designs with
roots in the Cold War era, hundreds of examples of which remain in
service but that in most ways lag behind world standards.
The history of Soviet aeronautics spins into quite a tale. In the
mid-1930s the Soviet government set up what was called a Central Design
Bureau — a state-run agency whose sole purpose was to design bombers,
fighters, and transport and cargo airplanes.
One part of that bureau had a section for designing long-range
bombers, headed by Sergej Vladimirovich Ilyushin, who later became a
successful designer of long-range jets, including the Ilyushin series
of commercial and military jets that exists today.
A different area called the Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute was
run by Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev, who designed and built a large
number of various Soviet aircraft called Tupolevs, including the two
planes that simultaneously crashed last month, apparently brought
down by terrorism.
Those two families of commercial airplanes, named for their respective
creators, served the Soviet Union just fine for many years. They were
used to transport people, cargo, and military equipment all around
the vast country. In the 1990s the Soviet monopoly carrier Aeroflot
was dismantled into dozens of smaller carriers, many of whom had
doubtful finances, poor management and even poorer reputations.
But as the industry continued to grow, companies like Aeroflot and
Sibir wanted re-equip.
Western-built planes from the likes of Boeing and Airbus were there
for the taking, but at a hefty price, thanks to government-imposed
tariffs of 20 per cent meant to encourage airlines to keep buying
Russian-made planes rather than imported ones.
But the Russian designs were old, not up to speed with what Boeing,
Airbus and others were producing.
And with no system in place for leasing aircraft from the domestic
manufacturers that are still producing planes, new aircraft were,
and are, difficult to come by no matter where carriers look.
A senior official at Russia’s industry and energy ministry warned
earlier this summer of a possible crisis in 2006 or 2007 as aircraft
become antiquated and international noise and emission requirements
come into play.
Aeroflot has some Boeing 777s, 767s and Airbus A310s in its fleet,
though the majority of its planes are Tupolevs and Ilyushins — the
TU-134, TU-154, IL-96, IL-86 and IL-62. Almost all of Sibir’s aircraft
are Tupolevs and Ilyushins — the TU-154, TU-204 and IL-86.
One way Russian carriers have gotten around the tariffs and
restrictions is by buying or leasing planes for airlines they have
a stake in that are in other countries.
Sibir, which took over 70 per cent of Armenian carrier Armavia last
year, inherited one leased Airbus A320. Because Armenia charges only
a registration fee for imported aircraft, Sibir can buy or lease more
if it likes.
Other manufacturers that found themselves outside Russia after the
Soviet Union crumbled have enjoyed some success.
Antonov, based in Ukraine, has been building new cargo planes such
as the An-225 Mriya, which has three jet engines on each side and
can transport cargo literally on its back — on top of the fuselage
outside the plane.
The entire Russian aerospace industry appears to be at a crossroads.
The regional TU-334 has flown; first RRJ is expected to make its
maiden test flight in 2006, with commercial use to begin a year later.
With a land mass bigger than Canada’s, with 11 different time zones
and with only one road connection from one end of the country to the
other, analysts expect the domestic market for smaller regional planes
to be huge.
Aeroflot carried 5.8 million passengers in 2003, up 6.5 per cent from
2002. Sibir carried 3.5 million passengers last year, while passenger
volumes grew more than 25 per cent for the first half of this year.
The industry as a whole has notched up 15 per cent growth almost
consistently since 2000.
If the RRJ program is successful, it will be proof to the world that
Russia can build modern, sophisticated planes that serve a purpose,
not only for Russia but for other markets too. Some wonder whether
Russia should sink billions of dollars into an industry that is
struggling to break free from its military, government-dominated past,
in the face of massive competition from entrenched players.
Russia’s own carriers aren’t holding their breath for competent new
jets to roll out in their own backyard.
While Sibir has signed a letter of intent with Sukhoi to buy the
50 RRJ-95 aircraft starting in 2007, one of its senior officials
recently told Russian news agency Prime-Tass that it plans to take
out a lease on 100 Boeing 717 regional jets by the end of this year,
with plans to continue taking out leases on foreign-made aircraft
over the next 10 years.
Still, it’s worth remembering there once seemed little hope for the
European consortium known as Airbus when it set out to take on Boeing
back in 1970. Airbus struggled to produce new designs to compete with
Boeing and runner-up McDonnell Douglas Corp.; Airbus practically had
to give away its first jets to get airlines to fly them.
Perhaps one day we will, indeed, step into a brand-new Russian-built
jetliner, for our shuttle flight to Ottawa, Montreal or New York.