CIVIL AVIATION IN CRISIS.

Russia needs at least $300 million to bring civil aviation out of its present crisis, deputy director of the Air Transport Department Valery Kasyanenko told a September 11 roundtable conference on state regulation of the federal civil air system. According to Kasyanenko, Russia should replace its obsolete air fleet with new IL-96, Tu-204, and IL-114 planes. Federal authorities responsible for the civil aviation development program reportedly plan to set aside 3.43 trillion rubles to upgrade airport facilities, production plants and research labs that contribute to the national air traffic management system. Purchasing domestic aircraft and financing wholesale renovation of the ground-based infrastructure will cost another 2.1 trillion rubles. (5)

Wholesale replacement of the existing fleet by new planes, acquisition of state-of-the art electronic air traffic management systems, and maintaining and improving the ground infrastructure at airports and regional control centers entail costs that would overwhelm many states in far sounder fiscal health than Russia. The modest sums being proposed by federal authorities suggest they are reconciled to the fact that they will lose ground in the civil aviation sector over the next 3 to 5 years, no matter what they do.

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