Earlier this month the Russian government decided to support the Tupolev Tu-204 jetliner. To rescue the ailing program, the goverment must provide Rouble 9.9 billion.

This amount of money is needed to keep Tu-204 production line running. And is an estimation of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC). The Russian press pictures the situation as though it is less expensive for the Kremlin to keep the Tu-204 manufacturing line busy rather than stop it and by doing this render thousands of machinists out of work.

The money is needed not only to support production, but also for certification of the Tu-204SM, the recent mutation of the ailing aircraft family. First such airplane flew at the end of the past year from the aerodrome of Aviastar-SP factory that does assembly of the Tu-204 airplanes. The Russian press speculates that it is less expensive for the Kremlin to keep Aviastar-SP working rather than to close down this huge enterprise.

Out of 9.9 billion Roubles required, some 5 billion will go for clearing the balance of Aviastar-SP in 2011-2013, when it is expected to be suffering from the negative result of operational activities. By comparison, closing down the Tu-204 manufacturing line would require 7.6 billion Roubles to cover all sorts of direct and indirect loses.

Manufacturing expenses per airframe are estimated at Rouble 1.13 billion. In its turn, the maker promises to cut this by 17.5%. Vendors promise to reduce their list-prices too, hoping for larger orders. This gives the ground to assert that newly assembled Tu-204SM can get sold in the marketplace.

In particular, Red Wings airline and its sponsor Alexander Lebedev are ready to acquire 44 Tu-204SM jetliners in the case each one goes for 700-750 billion Roubles. The Russian entrepreneur even agrees to pay more in the case the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry gives him guarantees on quality of after sales support and maintenance of these airplanes.