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Russia Calls For Better Aviation Safety

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  • Russia Calls For Better Aviation Safety

    RUSSIA CALLS FOR BETTER AVIATION SAFETY
    Alex Nicholson

    AP Online
    Aug 31, 2006

    Russia's prime minister said Thursday its civil aviation industry
    must be overhauled to reduce reliance on aging aircraft following
    three major crashes that killed more than 400 people.

    "We must now make decisions and take active measures," Prime Minister
    Mikhail Fradkov said at a Cabinet meeting that focussed on flight
    safety. "We cannot wait for more tragedies."

    Some of Fradkov's statement was broadcast prominently on state-run
    television, apparently to try to reassure Russians that the government
    is taking action on safety while creating momentum for reform in
    the sector.

    Last week, a Tu-154 jet belonging to Russia's Pulkovo Airlines
    crashed in Ukraine after encountering a storm, killing all 170 people
    aboard. In July, an Airbus A310 belonging to Russian airline S7
    skidded off a runway and burst into flames in the Siberian city of
    Irkutsk, killing 124 people. And an A320 belonging to the Armenian
    airline Armavia crashed into the Black Sea while trying to land in
    the Russian resort city of Sochi in rough weather in May, killing
    all 113 people aboard.

    Fradkov said that Russia needed to increase production of "new,
    modern planes," and noted that foreign companies would have a role
    to play in that process.

    "We do not have the right to lose our aviation industry. This is
    inarguable," the RIA Novosti agency quoted him as saying. "This does
    not exclude working with foreign partners, but it must be harmoniously
    combined with the interests of our manufacturers and our consumers."

    Fradkov called for a balanced approach, saying it would be wrong to
    focus narrowly on designing new aircraft at the expense of existing
    factories, just as it would be wrong to favor new, foreign-made jets.

    "No one will forgive us if we waste time and funds to create
    new aircraft and simultaneously lose our existing production
    capacities. And no one in the country will forgive us if we make flight
    safety our greatest priority, but rely on imported aircraft alone,"
    Fradkov said.

    He put Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov in charge of flight safety.

    Ivanov, who is also defense minister, suggested at the meeting that
    inadequate weather forecasting had been partly to blame for the crash
    in Ukraine.

    Despite having the capacity to roll out dozens of new planes annually,
    Russian factories produced just a handful of civilian aircraft last
    year, while Russian airlines imported 20 used foreign jets. New foreign
    equipment is prohibitively expensive for all but the national flag
    carrier Aeroflot. The lack of an affordable leasing system that would
    allow companies to acquire new Russian planes means that companies
    typically opt to buy older foreign or domestic jets.

    "From an economic point of view, it is impossible for new aircraft to
    compete with used jets," said Alexander Rubtsov, general director of
    the Ilyushin Finance Co. leasing company in a comment published in
    the Vedomosti business daily this week. "But just buying older jets
    runs counter to the interests of passengers, whose lives and safety
    depend directly on the condition of an airline's fleet."

    Fradkov suggested some of the many airlines that have emerged in Russia
    since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 compromise safety by
    cutting corners, saying that "economic interests sometimes conflict
    with questions of security."

    Russia is moving ahead with the creation of a long-discussed aircraft
    holding company _ the United Aviation Corp. _ that will unite Russia's
    civilian and military producers under one roof. The company has been
    promised hefty state funding and will be 75 percent controlled by
    the state.

    Fradkov's comments coincided with reports this week that a Russian
    state bank had bought more than 4 percent in European aerospace giant
    EADS, in what was interpreted as a push to forge closer ties with
    the Airbus parent company.
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