Airplane Makers Told to Team Up
The country`s hundreds of aviation companies will be consolidated into a half
dozen holding companies by 2004 in a bid to transform the stagnant industry into
a mean and lean competitor to U.S. and European rivals, the government
announced.
The plan, adopted by the government Friday, puts a new spin on a years-long
industry restructuring by proposing to clump civil and military aircraft makers
together.
By setting a three-year deadline, the government showed the urgency with which
it feels a revamp is needed. Its 2004 deadline is well ahead of the 2010
deadline that the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and the Industry, Science
and Technology Ministry suggested when proposing the revamp to the government on
Friday.
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov told reporters after the government meeting
that Russia has to consolidate its hundreds of aviation companies into a handful
of aviation powerhouses that can compete with the likes of Boeing and Lockheed
Martin of the United States, and the maker of the Airbus, the European
Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.
``There`s only three of them in the world, and there are 316 in Russia,``
Klebanov said.
This number will be whittled down to six to seven holding companies, of which
one or two will make aircraft. Only three civil aviation plants will remain ЎЦ
factories in Voronezh, Ulyanovsk and Kazan that produce Ilyushin and Tupolev
planes. The civil aviation plants, in turn, are to be saddled with the country`s
two military giants, the producers of Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets and
helicopters.
Under the plan, one holding company will combine 10 enterprises including the
Tupolev aviation complex, MiG Russian Aircraft Corp., helicopter designer Kamov,
Aviastar in Ulyanovsk, Aviakor in…
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