JETS.ru presents fragments of the interview with Mr. Nikolay Nikiforov, ETIRC CEO in CIS. You can read the full version of the interview in June edition of TopFlight magazine. In February 2008 ETIRC Aviation S.a.r.l. announced the launch of a production program of the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ) in Russia. First Russian assembling facility will be built in Ulyanovsk. The facility is expected to start working late in 2009. Some 30 aircraft are likely to be produced in the same year.We spoke with Mr. Nikolay Nikiforov, ETIRC CEO in CIS, about the prospects of the Russian project.

What part does the Russian side take in this project? Is there a Russian capital share in the company?

There certainly is a Russian capital share but Russian shareholders of the joint stock company haven’t been announced yet. I just can say that the plant will be managed by the Russians. At first American experts from Eclipse Aviation will consult the managers, and the assembly team will be of local origin; the number of employees will constitute some 1500 persons by 2012.
The plant in Ulyanovsk will essentially copy the production process in Albuquerque. The plant in the US is currently producing 1 aircraft per day. The plant in Ulyanovsk is planned to produce some 800 aircraft per year.

To avoid the difficulties at the launch of production all aircraft components will be sent as kits from the USA. Engines which are made in Canada and wings which are made in Japan will be delivered to Russia directly from these countries in order not to generate a complex logistics system.

Will locally produced parts be used in Eclipse 500 manufacturing?

We’ve got some obligations which are fixed in the investment offer. According to them ETIRC is to initiate localization in time. I believe it a reasonable decision. It isn’t worth producing landing gear in Canada if there’s a plant in Nizhniy Novgorod where hydraulics of high quality is produced for Airbus. The same is true for the aft fuselage: in order not to assemble it in England or America there’s sense in using local facilities. There are components that can be well-made in Russia.

Thus localization will be initiated in 1,5—2 years after production launch when we go through all stages of production certification.

A reasonable price and the absence of customs duties make Eclipse 500 affordable to the Russian customer. What are Eclipse prospects on the local market?

Its prospects are excellent. There exists demand for it already. In contrast to the US where 70% of all Eclipse 500 aircraft goes to private ownership and only 30% goes to air taxi, in Russia 90% of all orders come from air taxi operators and 10% from private buyers. Moreover Russian businessmen will use the aircraft as a corporate transport means, for instance, for a group of companies or a network of enterprises.

The Ulyanovsk plant output capacity is supposed to be some 800 aircraft per year. We nominally divided potential deliveries into two halves – one half goes to customers from Europe, the other one – to customers from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

I think that setting up a plant in Ulyanovsk will become a stimulus for the development of the air taxi market in Russia.