Putin criticized Manturov for the lack of orders from aircraft factories

President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with members of the government on January 11, criticized Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov for the lack of orders for aircraft at some aviation industry enterprises. Putin noted that the work to provide orders for aircraft, including for the military, is “too long.”

Following the optimistic report by Manturov, the President noted that enterprises should understand the prospects for orders in order to hire labor and maintain production facilities. “They need to understand how much the military department will order, how many civilian ships will be ordered. Some enterprises have no orders even for 2023,” Putin stressed.

Then a dispute began, during which the Deputy Prime Minister tried to explain that the orders for both civil and military lines had already been drawn up. Putin interrupted the official: “You have drafted, but there are no contracts. I’m telling you. Let’s finish the meeting now. What are we going to dive here with you? I know that there are no contracts at the enterprises, the directors told me. What are you really playing the fool for? When will the contracts be? (Quotes from the dialogue are given from the transcript on the President’s website.)

The Deputy Prime Minister then admitted that some of the passports for planes were not ready. His attempt to promise that work on them “will be done within a quarter, based on the opportunities that are formed by the budget, including under the preferential program of the National Welfare Fund,” Putin stopped. The President asked that “within a month” everything be done. “A quarter of some kind,” Putin was surprised. – What we are talking about? Do we not understand the conditions in which we live? I ask you to complete this work within a month.

Manturov tried to give a softer wording: “We will try to do our best with colleagues from the economic bloc. Thank you”. The President had to clarify and concretize the instruction: “No, do not try to do everything possible, but do it, please, within a month. This must be done within a month, not later. Good?” The official reported: “Yes.”

Later, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had “no serious complaints about Manturov’s work.” “This is a normal workflow,” Peskov emphasized (quoted by TASS).

It was about the absence of contracts claiming to be financed from the funds of the National Welfare Fund, a source in the government explained to Vedomosti. In particular, now there are no passports for these investment projects and, accordingly, there are no orders under the scheme using the money of the National Welfare Fund, he explained. There are framework contracts with airlines, but there are no firm ones, the interlocutor recalled.

Firm contracts cannot be signed until the financing scheme is confirmed at the level of government regulations, the source continues. This scheme, according to him, consists of two parts. The first is the government’s order, which approves the parameters for financing projects from the NWF at 1.5%. The second part concerns reducing the payback requirements for aircraft.

At the same time, the passport of the investment project, which also belongs to the first part, is approved by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development, the source explained. Braking, according to him, is “due to endless approvals within the government.” “Until this stage is agreed, it is impossible to sign firm contracts with airlines,” he concluded.

But the ministries did not agree with this point of view of the interlocutor of Vedomosti. “All acts on financing aviation at the expense of the National Welfare Fund, upon receipt by the Russian Ministry of Finance, were agreed upon as soon as possible and sent to the relevant department,” a representative of the Ministry of Finance told Vedomosti. According to a representative of the Ministry of Economic Development, this ministry “received the project passport on December 27, 2022 and was approved in a short time (in a day).”

Vedomosti sent a request to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

A source familiar with the process of preparing passports specified that “until yesterday, changes in resolutions 991 and 1008 that regulate the distribution of NWF funds have not been agreed upon by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy.”

A source familiar with the discussion of the draft passport recalls that the project provides for the acquisition of 63 aircraft (AC) and their subsequent transfer under leasing agreements to airlines in the period from 2023 to 2025. 175.4 billion rubles will be allocated from the NWF for these purposes. , of which 94 billion – already in the first quarter of this year. It is these parameters that have been submitted to the government, the interlocutor explains.

After the start of Russia’s NWO in Ukraine, the EU, the UK and the US imposed sanctions against the Russian aviation industry, including a complete ban on the supply of aircraft and components. Boeing and Airbus aircraft, which form the basis of the Russian fleet, fell under it. Aircraft insurance and maintenance were banned, and foreign leasing companies began to recall already delivered aircraft.

As a response to the current situation, the government of the Russian Federation in June 2022 approved a new program for the development of the aviation industry. It provides for the delivery of 1,036 aircraft for the needs of civil aviation until 2030. Of these, 142 are SSJ New (“import-substituted” version of SSJ) and 270 are MS-21-310 aircraft.

So far, Russian aircraft manufacturers represented by the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of Rostec) only signed an agreement of intent with Aeroflot for the supply of 339 aircraft. This was at the Eastern Economic Forum back in early September 2022. According to the document, “Aeroflot» on a lease basis from 2023 to 2030 will receive 210 MS-21 aircraft, 89 SSJ New aircraft and 40 Tu-214 aircraft. It was noted that the first two SSJs will be handed over to the airline next year, and the delivery of the first MS-21 and Tu-214 is scheduled for 2024.

Over the next three years, UAC will supply Aeroflot with 63 domestic aircraft, Manturov promised at a meeting with the president. In particular, in 2023-2025. the air carrier is to receive 34 short-range SSJ New aircraft, 18 medium-haul MS-21s and 11 Tu-214s. This year, 175 billion rubles will be allocated from the National Welfare Fund for the implementation of the program, Manturov specified.

“Significant volumes are currently contracted only by Aeroflot. To conclude contracts, funds are needed to advance production. But the FNB funds promised to the industry have not yet reached, the rules for their provision are still being worked out, ”a source familiar with the contracting process told Vedomosti.

The representative of Rostec said that for the period 2023-25. about 70 passenger aircraft have been contracted, work continues. Representative UAC said that pre-contract work is underway with all airlines that have shown interest in Russian technology. According to him, reaching real agreements is a matter of the near future.

Three key conditions must be spelled out in a firm contract: what is supplied (what are the consumer qualities of the product), when is it supplied and on what financial terms, said Roman Gusarov, editor-in-chief of the Avia.ru portal. According to him, today the industry cannot answer any of these questions. “The deadlines are called, but no one is completely sure of them. And it is unlikely that when concluding firm contracts, the industry is ready to subscribe to specific deadlines, ”Gusarov concluded.

“The issue of forming a state order program for domestically produced civilian aircraft has been under the control of the head of state since the beginning of the decade. In particular, large meetings were devoted to this topic in May and July 2021 and also in 2022,” Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviaport agency, recalled.

In his opinion, the risk of a shift in delivery dates certainly exists and is associated with delays in the supply of components: “Firstly, without a contract for the supply of aircraft, a manufacturer cannot advance the supply of components. Second, 2022 saw supply chain disruptions around the world, with even non-sanctioned Western producers affected. What can we say about domestic suppliers who have been hit.” Panteleev recalled that in 2014 and 2017. aircraft manufacturer SSJ has already produced more than 30 aircraft annually, so there is no doubt about the possibilities of the final assembly.

The expert added that negotiations on the supply of new domestic aircraft are not easy, it is necessary to agree on positions on a large number of issues, including the appearance of the Tu-214, which the group “Aeroflot» wants to get in the version for a crew of two pilots.