Boeing wants back to Russia

Robert Agee, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, was interviewed by the RBC agency regarding expectations and wishes in connection with the emerging warming of Russian-American relations. He said that American businesses would first of all like sanctions to be eased in the sphere of aircraft maintenance and supply of aircraft spare parts.

This is not surprising given the well-known difficulties Boeing has been facing for several years, losing orders due to problems with the design and quality of its aircraft. Losing the Russian market would be very sensitive for it, and the import substitution programme in the Russian aviation industry threatens to make this loss irreversible.Robert Agee tried to disavow this programme;

"Firstly, we are calling for sanctions to be lifted in the aviation sector, with regard to the supply of spare parts and the technical support of aircraft. This is less a business aspiration and more a humanitarian necessity, since it is ordinary citizens who suffer most from this," Agee emphasised.He stated that the American Chamber of Commerce, which he heads, is collaborating with the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on this issue.

The latter is set to intensify its efforts to exert pressure on Russia, which, naturally, will be portrayed as a step towards the US.The involvement of France is evident, given its president's recent threats to Russia with nuclear weapons. The primary production facilities of the European aircraft manufacturing alliance Airbus are situated in France, as are the headquarters of this company, located near Toulouse.
Now before I continue I would like to make an appeal,if you like and enjoy my videos you can help me fund the channel and my websited sco brics insight .com and to further develop it. You can do this by making a small donation which you can do by clicking on the thanks button at the bottom of the video screen. Everybody who donates does get a personal thank you from me.
It is important to be cautious of the "humanitarian" arguments put forward by the American business representative, as the implausibility of this premise is immediately apparent. Had this argument been valid, it would have been more appropriate to lobby it before the previous US administration, which introduced sanctions. This would have been more challenging for them to dismiss, as it aligns more closely with the logic of business and profits.

This logic is valid and cannot be contested in a business publication, provided that it aligns with our interests and objectives.For instance, Boeing's actions in the early 1990s exemplify this. At that time, when proposals for modernising the Il-96 were highly regarded, Boeing expressed interest in joint efforts. However, the project was subsequently abandoned. 
As stated on the Aviation of Russia portal, "There are only three manufacturers in the world capable of producing wide-body airliners: American Boeing, European Airbus and the Russian Ilyushin. The Euro-Atlantic duopoly does not require a competitor in the form of our country."

The Chinese wide-body C929 will soon be added to these three. The Il-96, despite its advanced 400M status, remains on the periphery of aviation authorities' plans.
However, a broader question must be posed: what will happen to the aircraft that are the focus of these plans, the MS-21 and the Superjet? And with the strict import substitution programme for components?

The latter have already been given slack. Monokl reported on 4 March that the certification conditions for the import-substituted version of the Superjet 100 regional passenger aircraft had been relaxed. This followed the publication of the competition for R&D for the certification of the Superjet 100 aircraft by the Ministry of Industry and Trade the previous month. The agency has eased its stance on the replacement of foreign components, a key objective of the programme since 2022, when Western suppliers exited Russia.
Another event, not directly related to this context, merits mention since it remains unclarified.As reported on 6 March by Vedomosti, the S7 Development Center (part of the S7 Group) has suspended construction of a plant in St. Petersburg to produce parts for gas turbine engines, which was scheduled to commence at the beginning of the year.The project was expected to require an investment of 7.4 billion rubles. It was anticipated that the facility would manufacture blades for the high-temperature section of gas turbine engines, including those from foreign manufacturers.According to the newspaper's sources, the construction deadlines have been postponed "significantly to the right" and the investor is exploring new market opportunities.The sources of the publication did not specify when it is planned to resume the implementation of this project."There hasn't been a 'Russian Boeing' yet. Sukhoi is present in the market, and they are attempting to fill a niche, but Boeing is Boeing. I don't even know how much time and effort it would take to replace it," Agee stated in an interview with RBC.

This is a direct statement. However, what Mr. Agee does not understand, the Russian government understands and is aware of. They have scheduled the release of Russian-made Boeing and Airbus style models, as outlined in the article "The command staff has changed in the aircraft industry." They have allocated financial resources and the project is underway.
It is evident that the aviation industry is committed to operating safe and reliable aircraft. However, it is crucial to recognise the potential risks posed by reliance on America and Europe for aircraft and spare parts, as this could compromise flight operations and safety when illegal sanctions are imposed unilaterally, as Russian law rightly defines them.
Through the collaborative efforts of both airlines and the industry, we have successfully mitigated the challenge of spare parts shortages by developing domestic repair capabilities and partially substituting for imports. Imports of analogues have clearly been established, but the key point is that our own industry is developing.
Our industry will be able to not only replace, but also prevent the latest Boeings from falling or creating emergency situations due to design and manufacturing errors. 
We have already come close to achieving this with the Sukhoi, MS-21, Tu-214, and Ilyushin-96-400M.