The respective agreement was signed in IFC chalet. Signatures were applied by Silk Way President Zaur Akhundov and IFC general manager Alexander Roubtsov in presence of United Aircraft (UAC) president Yuri Slyusar and Azerbaijan’s national carrier AZAL president Jahangir Asgarov.

The agreement specifies the main terms of a future contract that the sides are going to sign within a month. The aircraft in question – side RA-82080 - was previously operated by Russia’s Polet Airline, which has ceased operations recently. It was built by the Aviastar-SP factory in 2004, and represents the very last Ruslan which came off the production line located in Volgan city of Ulianovsk. This new acquisition will considerably boost the capability of the Baku-based airline in the market for transportation of super-heavy and oversized cargoes. Silk Way runs a fleet of seven Ilyushin Il-76s – including some retrofitted with PS-90A76 turbofans.

Farnborough visitors can inspect a Ruslan aircraft on display at the Cargo Village (near Gate F) in the colors of Russian airline Volga-Dnepr, the largest commercial operator of the type which has previously acquired several ex-Polet airframes. During the show, Volga-Dnepr team demonstrates loading and unloading operations using a Marshal Expendable Shelter module – effectively an air-transportable hospital which is used for Humanitarian Aid and Peacekeeping Operations.

Zaur Akhundov told journalists that the airline is going to employ its Ruslan starting in first quarter of 2017 on charter services. “There are some big oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan which creates a market for outsized cargo transportation services. Roughly, some 80% of our flights are to do with oil/gas equipment. There is some items that does not fit into the Il-76, - that’s why we are going for the Ruslan now.” He further said that the aircraft will be taken on financial lease terms with payments distributed over the next ten years. 

Akhundov further said that this airline is interested in expanding its fleet with additional Ruslan and Il-76 aircraft, “and that was the reason to invite UAC president to the signing ceremony – By signing this agreement we demonstrate our interest in such aircraft. I believe other airlines are interested in them, too”.

Earlier, Silk Way Airline signed for two An-178, the newest ramp freighter from Antonov whose first operable prototype is exhibited here at Farnborough. These will replace aged An-12 turboprops in the same category. “We are suspending An-12 operations, - these are great aircraft but already 52 years old, and I am afraid their term has expired”, Akhundov said.

Slyusar also addressed the issue of ramp freighters. He said that, as the production of the new airframes under the Ilyushin 476 project gears up, some of the newly assembled aircraft could be offered to civil users. He added that airlines from Azerbaijan, Algeria and other countries have expressed an interest in buying the Il-76TD-90A, as the civilian version of the baseline military Il-76MD-90A air lifter is called. Iran is also among those interested in newly-made Il-76s.

UAC president said that the share of civil products in the corporation’s income shall increase from some 350 billion Roubles last year to 900 billion in 2025 through increase of civil production. The latters share in UAC output shall rise from 10% currently to 50%.

The issues of widebody jets was also addressed during UAC press briefing on 12 July. The perspective Sino-Russian WideBody Jetliner requires between 13 and 20 billion U.S. dollars on R&D, setting up production and world-wide customer support. This was said by UAC president Yuri Slyusar. He explained that the 7 billion difference in the given range to different estimates of expenses needed for the customer support system. And whether this expense would incorporate (or not) the existing facilities such as those already in place and those planned for construction in frame of other Russian and Chinese aerospace programs such as the Sukhoi Superjet 100, Irkut MC-21, COMAC ARJ-21 and C919. Both Russia and China may use those in the interests of the joint widebody program, according to Slyusar.

The new program is being executed in accordance to the Boeing’s gate systems, with Gate 3 – at which the product should be completely defined – is planned for 2018-2019. The sides are close to complete structuring of the industrial effort, according to Slyusar. China’s COMAC and its patron AVIC shall be responsible for final assembly and most of the parts manufacturing, using the factories already erected around Shanghai and other key Chinese cities as part of the ongoing ARJ21 and C919 efforts.

At the same time, Russia will be mostly responsible for design and development, according to Slyusar. UAC’s Engineering Center newly erected in Zhukovsky near Moscow measuring 43,000 square meters will house a joint Sino-Russian group of engineers who will develop the widebody.

Slyusar insisted that the new jet shall be a clean sheet design, not based on any of the existing models. The Il-96 was considered as the base for the Sino-Russian jet development, but a thorough consideration conducted recently rendered such an approach inappropriate – and it has been dropped.

UAC and COMAC have conducted meetings with a number of Asian airlines – the target audience for the new product – which helped defined requirements to the jet. According to Slyusar, the new aircraft’s baseline version will transport 280 passengers over a maximum distance of 12,000 kilometers.

The new widebody is being created under government-to-government agreements signed by President Vladimir Putin and Chairman Xi Jinping, and at the level of ministries. During the Russian president visit to Beijing last month, Russia’s ministry for industry and trade and its Chinese counterpart signed for setting up a joint venture on equal terms, involving AVIC/COMAC and UAC. This means that the governments and the industrial partners from each country will contribute equally the grand total of investment required to create the product. Its entry into service is tentatively planned for 2025-2027, according to Slyusar. 

Initially, the engines are likely to be provided by Rolls-Royce or/and General Electric, “which already have suitable models with the required thrust of 35 metric tons”, according to Slyusar. Later on, the Russian design house Aviadvigatel in Perm shall come up with its own design PD-35 an up-scaled copy of the PD-14 of 14 tons now in the testing. Another Russian company, Kuznetsov, is proposing the PD-30 based on the core of the NK32-2 engine in use of the Tupolev Tu-160M strategic bomber.