People tend to forget that Russia was one of the lead builders of military aircraft for the past several decades. The country is now trying to turn that advantage to the commercial section. And, why not? The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) and Airbus bring in tens of billions of dollars. In one country alone, China, Boeing said that there may be 3,600 new planes needed in the next twenty years.
According to Reuters, the former Soviet Union's largest warplane maker Sukhoi, is about to launch a new commercial plane called the Superjet. The first model will hold up to 98 people. It is likely to be competition for Brazil's Embraer and Bombardier. But, a slightly larger aircraft could eventually compete with Boeing's 737.
While there is no guarantee that Russia will begin to build larger commercial planes, it would certainly be an intelligent extension of the Superjet program. The global market for larger planes is $60 billion a year. And, it has only two competitors.
There have been stories for some time that indicate that China may get into the business of building commercial planes, but its does not have the history of developing aircraft that Russia does.
Look for a larger plane to come out of Russia within the next five years. There's no reason for the country to leave the lion's share of the market to the U.S. and the Europeans.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 2/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-23-2007 @ 8:28PM
Richie said...
I would walk to China before I flew in a plane made in Russia.
9-23-2007 @ 8:56PM
bob said...
WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD FLY IN A PLANE MADE IN RUSSIA, ONLY IF YOU HAD A DEATH WISH?
9-24-2007 @ 1:27PM
Ryan said...
Russian planes are just as safe as any western plane when properly maintained. If you look at any crash records of planes like the Tu-154, all of the crashes are caused by problems like pilot error, not design flaws. I would feel just as safe on a properly maintained Tu-154 from a reputable airline such as Aeroflot as on an Boeing or Airbus in the US. Western plans when flown without proper maintenance or pilot training can be dangerous is places like Nigeria. It all depends on the maintenance. People get the bad idea of Russian airplane safety from years ago in the Soviet Union, but now with modern maintenace practice they are safe. I think it is good that they are returning to making competive airliners.
9-24-2007 @ 10:45PM
Interested said...
Russia has not delivered more than 6 (commercial) planes per year in more than a decade.
(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/89ace2bc-64f6-11dc-bf89-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=e8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F89ace2bc-64f6-11dc-bf89-0000779fd2ac%2Cdwp_uuid%3De8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.google.com%2Fnews%3Fhl%3Den)
While it is not impossible that UAC could get into the market space currently occupied by Boeing and Airbus, neither Boeing nor Airbus shall be "challenged" by Russian passenger jet competition for more than 50 years.
And OBTW, the Russian Regional Jet has been on the drawing boards for over a decade.