- Vitaliy Aleksandrovich! Exactly one year ago, we talked with you on Jet Expo 2015 exhibition in the cabin of the Tu-204VIP. Today you are showing Sukhoi Business Jet. What’s new in your business this year?

- On the last exhibition Jet Expo 2015 we exhibited Tu-204VIP, the result was obvious: 4 aircrafts were contracted, 2 aircrafts have already been done, 2 aircrafts at the output. We have received orders ourselves and thereby support the aviation industry. This year we present the Sukhoi Business Jet (Business version of the Russian Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft). We have completed 7 SSJ100 aircrafts. The eighth project - SportJet aircraft concept for sports teams. The interior model was built by us, it was showed in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympic Games and created a sensation at the international level. There has never been such a classy approach of building an aircraft for athletes transportation in the world. There are sports clubs that not only fly on leased aircrafts, but also can afford to buy their own, equip and fly comfortably. And if this is a basketball or a volleyball team they just don’t have anything to fly by. They cannot take regular flights: the economy class doesn’t fit because of the height, and business class doesn't have the required number of seats, to carry the team of 25 people at once.

- The concept of such aircraft can be implemented on the basis of many other aircrafts. Why have you chosen the SuperJet?

- What is good in the SuperJet? It is produced commercially, there is a huge database of configurations for different purposes. Today it is possible to create any order in the shortest time, any layout in the semi-annual period.

- Do you have customers on SportJet?

- I'm sure the customers will come. According to Sukhoi Business Jet and special purpose aircrafts I can see the potential volume of orders from 5 to 10 aircraft per year. There are also customers and the demand for these aircrafts. The most important thing - the aircraft exists, they are manufactured, we’ve learned to make any kind of interiors and to certify them.

- You mentioned that 7 Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircrafts have already been equipped with your interiors. Tell us, what were the aircrafts, for who?

- Two aircrafts for the Government squadron are now actively operated, the customer is very pleased. Two aircrafts for the Air Force in Thailand, more precisely, for the King of Thailand. Originally they attempted to buy Airbus or Boeing. But when the demands were made, drawn up technical specification and the Airbus and Boeing have understood that to make the airplane that they want during this time frame and with such quality for that money was unreal. All business jets, which are created by these manufacturers, in fact are created commercially based on standard configurations. You can change the colour, trim, carpet, but you can’t change the layout scheme, and you can’t put the non-type complex units. And we did it. The aircrafts are successfully put into operation by the customer. Yes, the first people of different countries use our airplanes, and this is our joker.

There are 2 more special purpose aircrafts for the EMERCOM. Moreover, they are very interesting in layout. They are transformers and can perform all sorts of tasks. Equipped with special equipment for search activities, to determine the ignitions, wildfires, special communication. And transforming cabins allow as soon as possible, in a few hours, to remove one part of the interior and bring back and install any sort of various specialised medical equipment, special rescue equipment, put the stretcher on which the victims will be transported. Very interesting aircraft.

- This is an interesting task. You have given the range of equipment and you integrated it into the cabin of aircraft, is it correct?

- Yes. Moreover, there were conducted special tests in transportation of victims to the possibility of evacuation of the stretcher through the main and emergency doors. In the shortest time we did it. And another aircraft for the Border Service of Kazakhstan is ready, but hasn’t been delivered to the customer yet. There is a three-class layout. There is a VIP-zone, business zone, economy zone.

- Are there any orders for the next year?

- The contract for the delivery of the third aircraft for Royal Air Force of Thailand is already signed. Others are in process of signing, negotiations are in progress. We don’t want to talk about them ahead of time. Basically these are the needs of the Intelligence Services of our state and neighboring friendly countries.

- How many and what aircrafts have you already transferred to the customers during the year apart the SuperJet?

- This year we transferred the IL-96 - board №1. We made 2 Tu-204 aircrafts. 2 more of the Tu-204 aircrafts and 2 Tu-214 aircrafts are at a high stage of readiness. In deep repairs we are periodically upgrading the earlier aircrafts, one after the other. There were no helicopters this year. Last year we equipped 2 helicopters. By the way, there is a number of our helicopters also carrying the first persons of different countries.

- Am I right to notice, since our last meeting a year ago, you have significantly increased the volumes?

- Yes. We had 18 projects in parallel. In particular, we had railway wagons of a special purpose, and the work on the Ministry of Defence aircrafts - they are now in production. Tu-134 in Minsk, and the Tu-154 in Samara. Il-18 was put in order. Aircraft fleet is huge, it also needs maintenance. We have created a program to restore the cabins of old aircrafts in parallel with the creation of new ones. Over the past year and a half we have recruited about 300 people.

- That is true to say that you have significantly increased the staff?

- We have not only increased the staff, but also are training them. We prepare new specialists and organise trainings for existing staff. Constantly upgrade the units. Today we have big changes in the design department, in the office of chief technologist. We have implemented a new approach to the concept of the design - French company is currently helping us in this. The next year will surprise with the new quality - the new design.

- How many staff members are currently working in your company?

- More than 700.

-   It's a big manufacture …

-    This manufacture isn’t concentrated in one place. There are 2 main production areas and 10 stations on the aircraft factories constantly operating across the country: in Minsk and Kazan - 2 stations, Ulyanovsk, Voronezh, where we have a new program for the different configurations of Il-96 , Samara, where Tu-154 was produced and modernised.

- Is the percentage of imported components big in your interiors?

- Today we offer a huge number of components produced in Russia. The substitution of imported components we produce constantly - every few months we are changing with Russian accessory. And it is not the spirit of the times, we have been implementing this program for many years, interiors and equipment we make fully ourselves, and materials and accessories are gradually replaced with domestic as they appear in their own unique market. We are constantly launching own production of components. The labor input of the final product lies mostly in Russia today. 80-90% of the cost of the product - a Russian labor input.

- Are there any plans to produce cabins, for example for the serial SuperJet with standard equipment?

- I think that for the 2017, we will arrive at the concept of design and production of all serial cabin with lots of incoming components.

- And are you ready to become a major supplier of the "assembly line"?

- We are building a strategy to be not only the supplier of UAC, but to be a part of the industry itself, not to make money on some orders, but to build a strategy to solve all needs of the industry. We're going to make a circulation if the industry supports us. During 2017-2018 we are ready to solve the problem of the mass production of the interior of SSJ100, MC-21, Il-96-400, Il-114 and to close all questions. I think by the end of the year it will be clear what our industry is planning for the mass production of the interior. Anyway, a big company with a large number of staff is always experiencing pcomplications due to non-uniformity of incoming orders. Anyway there are some recessions and rises. We have the strategy for the next 5 years, but also short-term failures and rush jobs are still there. These failures we are displacing with the components production. We are actively planning to develop manufacturing and mass production of interiors.

- SSJ100, MC-21 - this is another kind of volumes.

- We are not afraid of large volumes of orders. We have a very competent staff, very well-trained staff. We do a great job, by the end of the year we will show a completely new system of designing , the company's management, planning on the basis of Dassault programs. We show an exemplary company with transparent and high-quality financial planning system. How so? We have assembled the world's best brains. We have very good advisers, who lay the ideology, on the basis of which it should be built, based on what sort of documentation, how it should work, because no program is going to work without the ideology. If you think the ideology from the beginning to the end and you can understand the entire chain ... Put away one link, and the chain will break. Today we are beginning to test it. The design results are already seen. By the end of the year will show a sample of the new industrial company.

- In this case, do you think in the perspective of entering the international market - the offer of standard solutions for other manufacturers, in addition to Russian?

- We think that we don’t just work with the French. And it doesn’t mean that the brains we have are not enough. This helps us to understand on what laws business is based and work with the customer there. And they are interested in us, as a major completion centre in Europe. Yes, today we in terms of production volumes are the biggest completion centre. Moreover, much larger than existing, even the largest. Everyone is involved only in minor repairs, plus 1-2 aircrafts on refurbishing. But the companies that accompany them - design, logistics, acquisitions librarians, don’t have the most possible pleasant times. Earlier in the design, engineering companies couldn’t be reached, they didn’t talk to anyone. One sketch, a picture is worth 50-100 thousand euros. And now they are ready to work for free, ready to do anything to any product, to create and maybe then if the project is implemented to get some dividends.

We are working on all Russian production plants, on all types of aircrafts - more than 20 types. No other company on the market has such a wide range in the world. Usually completion centre is the hangar where the aircraft is delivered and it works only the completion. The team comes there, prepares bring parts as the customisation of the aircraft is very low-level, in fact it is a small-scale production at the final documentation. The components are gathered from different manufacturers, various assembling teams are coming, they are not centralised and everyone do their own part of the job. There is nowhere the same participation as in our company where developers are involved, engineering services, own production, aircraft developers, sometimes the help comes from other design bureau developers. And we have a huge amount of own production, plus handing the aircraft to the customer "turnkey".

- In general, don`t you have any experience in the equipment of foreign aircrafts?

- Actually I do not see anything difficult. In terms of certification, we are also in the clear. The main certificate we received this year. In terms of production of the aircraft, I think we will come to that soon. Spare parts for foreign aircrafts we produce but not yet the whole aircraft. We make plastic, leather goods, covers, curtains, carpets and some furniture. We are producing components for Boeing and Airbus.

- Is it possible to characterise the results of your activities in the growth of volumes, speeds?

- In the 2015-16 year, I will characterise as a two-fold increase annually. If my strategic planning doesn’t fail, we will have a common understanding with the industry, I think we could even double the amount of production in 2017.

- Can your company be called a technology leader?

- Yes, we now have actually an increase in production not by increasing the labor force, but optimising the company's management, planning, optimisation of technological processes, engineering documentation. Increasing the manufacturability, labor productivity, planning of the company system. I would like to achieve surgical precision in the business.