AirRep confirms that completion of its order is underway and welcomes the impetus provided by the new GD (376 words)

Published: 11/5/2001

UK-based AirRep has reported that it expects to take delivery of its second Tu-204C (air frame 64032) in February 2002, with work currently underway on the aircraft at the Aviastar facility in Ulyanovsk for completion in December 2002. Given the recent problems at the plant, the fact that production is underway again is no mean feat and something that Andy Lewis, the newly appointed Managing Director of AirRep, attributes to Aviastar's General Director, Valery Savotchenko, who recently replaced the outgoing management team from New Community. Lewis says that the appointment of Savotchenko, previously Operations Director at Aviastar, means that “Aviastar is now back in the control of a team which understands its products and their markets, headed by a man who is both forward thinking and receptive to new ideas.” The AirRep aircraft, which was first expected to be delivered at the end of 2000 and then in spring 2001, remained untouched during the period that New Community managed the Aviastar plant, as did orders from Sirocco International. Lewis is however, confident that the plant is going to meet the delivery date this time round. Components for the assembly of the aircraft are being directly supplied by the consortium that acquires and operates the Air Rep aircraft, in a similar fashion to Sirocco International, with Victor Kavalenko, General Director of OOO Aviastar-TU, responsible for sourcing components and delivering them to the plant for assembly, including engines from Perm. This should overcome hold-ups that the plant may have experienced with suppliers over payment, following reports of problems emerging during the summer. Reports from within the plant indicate that work has not yet commenced on the two Sirocco airframes currently awaiting completion. According to Tom Smith, President of Sirocco International, this is due to Russian avionic components on order for the aircraft, but that these were expected within a month. Smith added that the aircraft were “substantially complete”, with the Rolls Royce engines sets delivered along with Western avionics and cargo handling systems. He said that delivery of the first aircraft is scheduled for January, with the second following two to three months later.

Article ID: 2884