PM: Russia to ramp up production of national aircraft

MOSCOW, Feb 16 (PRIME) -- Russia plans to ramp up production of national aircraft and reduce dependency on foreign models, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday during a government meeting.

In January, President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to approve until Wednesday the design passports of projects to upgrade the aircraft fleets and build water transport.

Mishustin said that the government fulfilled the task. It had approved passports of investment projects and had signed the contracts with aviation companies, he said.

“We will ramp up the scale of mass production of the new generation of national aircraft to decrease dependency on foreign models and strengthen technological sovereignty of which the president spoke,” he said.

The government also plans to allocate more than 237 billion rubles to the aviation projects in 2022 and more than 32 billion rubles in the next two years through acquisition of bonds of Russian leasing companies.

The projects should allow national flagship carrier Aeroflot to receive more than 60 long-range aircraft including MC-21s, new Sukhoi Superjets, and Tu-214 planes in 2023–2025. Russian regional airlines will receive around 100 Mi-8 helicopters, and united Far Eastern airline Aurora would receive almost 40 aircraft in 2024–2026, Mishustin said.

The government’s Telegram channel said that the government will buy the bonds of leasing companies using the National Wealth Fund’s money.

(74.2077 rubles – U.S. $1)

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