The air arm of the Kremlin that transports government officials has declared its intent to procure Airbus A319 jetliners and AgustaWestland helicopters.

The plans for this year are to procure two A319s and two helicopters from AgustaWestline, - the exact type is not mentioned.

Information about this has emerged in the form of a tender documentation: the presidential air detachment intends to run a tender. This is a standard Russian practice when purchase of equipment is to be made from commercial or foreign structures. The respective documents emerged on www.zakupki.gov.ru, which is governmental internet site for state tenders. Publishing date is 27 January 2011.

According to these documents, delivery of helicopters shall take place in October 2011, and Airbus narrow body jets in December 2011. Besides, the presidential air detachment is also looking to acquire four newly built Mil Mi-8MTV helicopters in October this year.

The Kremlin’s carrier had been operating only indigenous types until last year. In 2010 the detachment took delivery of two Dassault Falcon 7X business jets. In the middle of the past year information emerged about the operator looking to acquire Airbus narrow body jets in corporate version, either the Elite or the Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) versions. These normally have cabins specially configured for VVIP.