The majority of contracts at MAKS-2011 will be timed to coincide with the prime minister's visit.
The tenth International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2011 kicked off yesterday. The biggest event of the first day of the show became the signing of a memorandum of intent for the supply of the new Airbus A320 neo, worth more than $700 million, to Transaero. With Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attending today, experts believe that even more contracts will be concluded.
The tenth International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2011 opened yesterday in Zhukovsky. A number of agreements and contracts were signed during the first day of the show. Airbus and Transaero entered into a memorandum of intent on the supply of eight new A320 neo airplanes starting in 2017. According to the catalogue price, the value of the contract amounts to $712 million; Transaero declined to reveal the actual price of the planes, but they did mention that they are pleased with the proposal by Airbus.
So far Transaero has been the largest operator of planes manufactured by Boeing, Airbus' rival. Transaero has about 60 planes by the U.S. manufacturer. But from now on Transaero will be purchasing planes manufactured by both companies. Head of the Infomost consulting company Boris Rybak considers this to be the proper tactic and believes that most major airlines are using this same strategy.
Sky Aviation, a regional Indonesian company, signed a major contract with the Sukhoi Company on the supply of 12 Sukhoi Superjets (SSJ-100) from 2012-2015. The value of this transaction has been estimated at more than $380 million. Today UTair is expected to sign an agreement with the Sukhoi Company for the supply of 24 SSJ jets. UTair CEO Andrei Martirosov did not deny this information, but he told Ъ that he is going to let the suspense build until the very end.
United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) CEO Mikhail Pogosyan said yesterday that according to his data, contracts for approximately 150 civil air planes will be signed at MAKS. In particular, according to the Russian Technologies State Corporation, the signing of a contract for the supply of 50 MS-21 planes to Aeroflot is scheduled to take place today. According to sources, the contract will be signed in the presence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
In addition to contracts for the delivery of aircraft, other agreements have been made as well. Yesterday, Basel Aero, a subsidiary of Boeing that manages airports in southern Russia, agreed on the purchase of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of technology for organising air traffic at Sochi Airport. This will help facilitate a reduction from 10% to 1% in the number of delayed flights at the airport, where there are very difficult weather conditions during the winter months, Ъ's source in Boeing said. Basel Aero CEO Sergei Likharуev declined to comment on the price, but he did say that Basel Aero will acquire part of the funding for this from budget allocations, and the rest will be paid by the company. Boeing has promised to sign a similar agreement with another airport today.
In general, the assessment by experts of the first day of the salon is quite positive. Oleg Panteleyev, the head of the Aviaport analytical department, praised the organisation of the event. But the business program was not as saturated as expected. Panteleyev believes this is due to the fact that most state contracts are being timed to coincide with Vladimir Putin's visit. He expects that major state military vehicle orders will be announced. According to his forecasts, major contracts for the supply of 40 Mi-171 helicopters for Utair and Gazpromavia will be made as well.
Aviatransportnoye Obozreniye's Editor-in-Chief Alexei Sinitsky considers the first day of MAKS to be a success. He was particularly impressed with the contract between Transaero and Airbus.
Yekaterina Sobol