No New Orders For Sukhoi Regional Airliner

It's a start. The Moscow Air Show, which wrapped up Sunday, reportedly brought some $3 billion in new contracts for Russian manufacturers. That's a sizable increase overs years past... but a far cry from such notable Western shows as Le Bourget, Farnborough, and Dubai.

The recently-created United Aircraft Corp. signed approximately $1.5 billion in new business, Federal Agency on Industry head Boris Alyoshin told The Associated Press. Event organizers claimed a threefold increase overall from the $1 billion taken in during the 2005 show.

Still, that total is considerably less than the volume of orders seen at the biennial Farnbourough and Paris Air Shows. During this year's exhibition in Le Bourget, Airbus alone took in $88 billion in new business.

The Moscow show was notable for a Boeing 737 order from Atlant-Soyuz, which is controlled by the Moscow city government. As ANN reported, the charter carrier signed for four 737-700s. Analysts say the order underscored the need for Russia's homegrown airliners to advance to Western safety, noise, and emissions standards.

Somewhat curiously, one of Russia's brightest new projects -- the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet -- received little attention during the show. No new orders for the 75- to 95-seat plane were taken; were it not for a sales and service agreement signed between Sukhoi and Italy's Alenia Aeronautica, the plane would have stayed out of the headlines completely.

One news item Russia would have preferred to keep out of the papers was the grounding last week of all Su-24 bombers, following a crash in the Far East officials believe was caused by technical issues. Still, the show brought in around $400 million in military-related business, said Vladimir Poleshchuk, the deputy head of the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service.

Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned arms trader, reports almost 800 companies from approximately 100 countries participated in the show -- up from 70 two years ago. Delegations from China, the Mideast, and Latin America made up the largest foreign presence at the show.

Moscow newspapers reported on poor event organization at the show, leading to such issues as inadequate toilet facilities and several traffic jams.

FMI: www.airshow.ru/exhibition/1/ex.htm, http://rusarm.ru/