02 July 2008

A Home for all those 50 Seat RJs - Russia?

Russian authorities have thrown down what should be an interesting offer to anyone who owns and/or operates one of those largely surplus 50 Seat RJs. They are offering to forgo the heavy duty that is currently imposed on all external aircraft imports into the Russian Federation.

Why this and why now? Well the bulk of the Russian fleet of these types and sizes of aircraft are VERY OLD WW2 era AN2 biplanes and the outrageously expensive to operate Yak40/42s. There are no plans to build such a size aircraft in the near future but Russia - in the midst of an economic upturn - is keep to expand regional aviation domestically. Hence the offer.

Yevgeny Bachurin also noted that the proposal of Rosaviatsiya is only a temporary measure, until the Russian manufacturers will decide with the production of aircrafts with a capacity of less than 50 seats.

Interesting no?

Cheers

Timothy

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