UAC United Aircraft Corporation

United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) president and chairman of its executive board, Mikhail Pogosyan (pictured), declared that the company is building on its strategy to truly unite, as it moves from demonstrating the capabilities of its constituent companies to the reality of orders.

So far in 2012, UAC has received more than 300 commercial aircraft orders (SSJ100, An-148 and MC-21), over 270 combat aircraft orders and over 100 transport aircraft orders. “The revenue share in 2012 will see the military share dropping from over 80% to around 58% over the next two years, with commercial being the largest growth area,” Pogosyan commented. “We’ve also seen a change with our services business growing to provide 16% of revenue against 84% from manufacturing.”

Pogosyan reported that UAC has now united the management of the programmes in the commercial and transport segments. The next step, he added, is to unite the purchasing and the sales operations.

The ramifications for UAC and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft from the Superjet 100 accident in Indonesia were not overlooked. Pogosyan was asked why the company has been “quite forceful” about there not being a technical problem with the aircraft. “Well, we have worked in close contact with the investigation board and we have access to the analysis of the data of the CVR & FDR. Based on that data, we can say that there were no technical issues with the aircraft at the time of the accident,” he replied.

“The impact from a marketing standpoint is a likely effect on the Indonesian market,” he continued. “We keep informing our customers of the investigation results. Now we are working with customers on firm orders, for about 40 aircraft, from southeast Asia. I think we will finalise these in the coming months.”

Russia's trade and industry ministry is stressing that it has yet to decide the nature of a new aircraft to address the 130-seat sector, but it remains keen on participating in the market.

While the ministry referred earlier this year to a project designated the Superjet 130NG, it will not necessarily involve a stretch of the Sukhoi Superjet 100.

"It is not the Superjet, and it is not the 'Next Generation'," said deputy trade minister Yuri Slusar, emphasising that the effort is aimed at trying to fill a distinct niche in the 130-seat sector "through unification of the existing product range".

He said this included onboard systems and after-sales support already selected for the Superjet as well as the Irkut MS-21.

"At this moment, we cannot afford to sell totally different aircraft with their vastly differing vendors, suppliers and systems, entailing differences in crew training and contents of warehouses," added Slusar.

But he pointed out that the 130-seat sector appeared attractive and insisted that rival aircraft, such as the Bombardier CSeries, cannot meet the demand alone.

"In the first quarter of 2013, we will take a look at what sort of aircraft we might produce and [if one is required] how many airframes we can sell and at what price," said Slusar. "At this point, there is no certainty. The project is at the preliminary development phase."

Initial indications had pointed to a possible Superjet stretch featuring composite wings and new powerplants