The co-owner of Red Wings airline, Alexander Lebedev, is asking the authorities again to help the Tu-204 SM project. In his letter to Vladimir Putin the businessman proposes to sign over the patronage of Tu-204 SM project to the Strategic initiative agency, RBC Daily reports. 

«It has been almost a year since we started the coordination of Tu-204SM project in the government and VEB for our Red Wings carrier», — Alexander Lebedev notes in his letter to Vladimir Putin. He reminds that it will help to give a full load of work to several enterprises of aircraft industry. According to him, the destiny of Red Wings, the Russian largest regional charter carrier, depends on the Tu-204SM project. 

Red Wings has signed memorandum of understanding with Ilyushin Finance & Co (IFC) in 2010 on delivery of 44 new-built Tu-204SMs. The first liner should have been acquired by the airline in the second half of 2012. However, the information that Red Wings will probably drop out of the project has appeared in March. Lebedev explained that VEB is trying to keep the private capital out of the project. 

Later Alexander Rubtsov, CEO of IFC, has reported that his company is dropping out of the project. The official representative of IFC, Andrey Lipovetsky said, that now they have no information regarding implementation of Tu-204SM project. Although it has been stated earlier that there are few more customers for Tu-204SM besides Red Wings, United Aircraft Corporation still has not been able to sell a single jet. The negotiations with several airlines are in progress and the details of the contracts will be unveiled after the signing, the official representative of UAC, Olga Kayukova, notes. 

The project may be cancelled if there are no customers for the jets, Alexander Lebedev warns. «Sign over the patronage of this project to the Strategic initiative agency carrying it to completion», — says Lebedev in his letter to Vladimir Putin.