Ural Works of Civil Aviation (UWCA, part of Rostec Corporation) and Austrian Diamond Aircraft Industries (DAI) have signed an agreement on development and production of light utility aircraft (LUA) in Russia, Rostec’s press-service reports.
“At present the regional aviation in Russia is in decay since there are no high-quality state-of-the-art affordable light aircraft”, - CEO of Rostec Corporation, Sergey Chemezov, said. “The currently operated An-2 and L-410 aircraft are outdated; they have low fuel efficiency and high operating costs. The development and production of a brand-new aircraft will create the replacement for these outdated vehicles. Rostec intends to launch its own leasing programs in order to simplify the acquisition and operation of new vehicles in future”.
Rostec entered into partnership with DAI, which possesses some innovative technologies for manufacturing low-cost light utility aircraft. “Rostec and the Austrian company will cooperate in the area of production and leasing of the light aircraft, while the government of RF should restore the Russia’s airfield network and subsidize the development of domestic services”, - the company explained.
“We believe that Russia is a promising market due to the country’s significant territory. There is a great potential for development of domestic services”, - Christian Dries, President of Diamond Aircraft, said. “This sector can be quite profitable provided that the approach is right. According to the latest studies, 70% of the world’s domestic operations are accounted for USA, whose territory is comparable with Russia”.
The agreement assumes a phased cooperative work. On the final stage all the components of the aircraft and diesel engines will be manufactured in Russia by UWCA. The first Russian-produced light utility aircraft may be put into service in 2016.
“The demand for such vehicles at the Russian market is about 200 aircraft”, - said in the statement of Rostec Corporation. “The implementation of this project will help establish connections with remote settlements and provide sustainable development of hard-to-reach regions. Efficient and affordable light utility aircraft will make the regional services profitable and this market will attract small companies not having their own fleet”.
“It is planned to launch the production of small commercial aircraft seating up to 19 passengers. Such aircraft should be able to meet the requirements of local airlines performing flights within 400 – 1000 km range”, - Aleksey Fedorov, Rostec’s Managing director on aviation projects, said. “New aircraft of the type are not manufactured in Russia. The existing foreign analogues generally have unpressurized airframe made of aluminum alloys and they are powered by turboprop engines. We would like to offer aircraft with an airframe made of composites and fitted with kerosene-powered diesel engines. The above-mentioned solutions will help decrease fuel consumption 2.5 times”.
Additional articles of the agreement assume launching the production of diesel aircraft engines having a capacity from 190 to 600 h.p. and the production of four-seat light DA40 and DA42 aircraft in Russia, Rostec noted.