04 June 2004 03:36
Boeing Rips Airplane Tariff Policy
Boeing has pumped more than $1.3 billion into joint ventures with Russia since the early 1990s, but is finding it
difficult to maintain that investment level because of restrictions on sales to domestic airlines, a senior company
official said Thursday.
"Frankly speaking, we are disappointed that we are not able to sell more civil aircraft in Russia," Thomas
Pickering, Boeing's senior vice president for international relations and a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, said
at a briefing.
Boeing employs more than 500 people at its engineering center in Moscow and cooperates closely with Russia on the
international space station. Russia is the aircraft builder's prime supplier of titanium and No. 2 provider of IT
programs.
But because of measures to protect Russia's aircraft industry, Boeing is losing out when it comes to selling
planes.
"We sell more aircraft to Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Ukraine," said Sergei Kravchenko, Boeing president in
Russia. "It is becoming increasingly difficult to talk to our superiors about more investment into
Russia."
Of 110 foreign-made jets flown by CIS airlines, 88 are Boeings, the company said. Twenty-eight operate in Russia.
Boeing lost out to its main European competitor in 2002 when flagship carrier Aeroflot opted to acquire 18 new
Airbuses.
However, the airline plans to double its fleet to 150 jets by the end of the decade and has shown interest in foreign
planes because of the unavailability of Russian aircraft.
Last year, the domestic industry produced just a handful of commercial jets. In its Soviet heyday, the industry
rolled out up to 150 civil jets per year, which accounted for a quarter of the global commercial fleet.
Aeroflot and other top-league carriers have urged the government to lift prohibitive value-added-tax and import
duties that increase the price of foreign-made jets by up to 40 percent.
"With noise regulations in Europe and the increasing age of Russian aircraft, Russian airlines are going to find
it more difficult to obtain equipment at competitive prices -- and as a result stay in the international airline
business," Pickering said.
"It makes no sense to have a strong domestic aviation industry if [Russia] has no airlines to which it can sell
airplanes."
Nevertheless, Boeing wants to continue cooperation with Russia, including work on its new 7E7 liner, Pickering said.
He did not rule out that some parts could be produced in Russia.
Boeing is ready to expand its presence in Russia from mainly space and civil aviation projects to the military
sphere, Pickering said.
But before that is possible, he added, Moscow and Washington would have to reach relevant agreements.
.TX-..**********************************************
[The Moscow Times] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
