PRESS: Russia’s Irkut, Airbus terminate JV for Be-200 promotion

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (PRIME) -- Russian aircraft producer Irkut and Airbus have terminated EADS Irkut Seaplane, a joint venture established in 2005 for promotion of Be-200 amphibious planes, due to losses suffered by the company as high prices for Be-200 prevented promotion, Kommersant business daily reported on Wednesday.

Another goal of EADS Irkut Seaplane was to remodel passenger A320/A321 planes into cargo carriers. The company planned to remodel at least 400 planes in 2010–2040, but it failed to find the market for the plane and the project was frozen even before the introduction of Western sanctions in 2014, the business daily reported.

Irkut lost about U.S. $50 million in the venture, but the losses were partially compensated by the fact that in 2009 Irkut became the first Russian aircraft producer to obtain a quality management certificate under the EN 9100 standard, which allows the company to export goods to Europe, a source told Kommersant.

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