Government funds maintenance (309 words)

Published: 4/18/2001

Gromov's Flight Test and Research Institute (LII), in Zhukovsky, has recovered its position in the market for airport services after a temporary ban on commercial flights imposed in 1999, by the Federal Service of Air Transport (FSVT), when LII was judged not to meet civil aviation standards. East Line was rumoured to have been behind this action at the time and subsequently many of those cargo carriers using the facility have moved to Domodedovo. The crackdown was however, attributed by other sources, to the view of the authorities that the airport was the subject of significant illegal activity. The use of the LII by commercial cargo carriers began four years ago. According to LII chief Vyatcheslav Bakayev, the institute earned Rb60m ($2.1m) on airport services in 2000, a figure that exceeded state funding of LII's civil aviation research programmes. Bakayev said that, despite increasing competition between Moscow airports that led to a general reduction in airport changes, LII managed to increase income from commercial operations by 30-40% over three years. A further increase in the commercial use of the aerodrome is however, not considered feasible, as LII believes additional taxes on revenues would eliminate extra profit. LII facility however, remains the main contender for the Air Launch project involving Polyot Airlines. In 1999 and 2000, the Russian government and State Duma agreed to provide funding for renovation of the LII airport, as its 5,700m runway and landing equipment threaten flight safety allocating Rb50m and Rb90m respectively, with Rb70m due this year, with in the past two years exceeding the previous ten years. He added that the state funding was just sufficient to maintain minimum working conditions and allow general functioning of the institute and its flight test bases for the aircraft developers.

Article ID: 2497