Yuri Koptev charged to bring order to Tupolev as the new chairman after months of senior management struggles

Published: 12/14/1999

It seems that Yury Koptev, General Director of the Russian Aerospace Agency has been elected Chairman of the board of the new Tupolev company, above Shevchuk, who has recently returned to the position following a very brief spell earlier as General Director. Reports had suggested that the articles of association for the new company were close to being finalized, although the Tupolev Design Bureau had claimed not to have found the terms acceptable giving them only 4.5% of the new company. Now, it looks as if it has either capitulated or been ignored. According to Koptev, the government will discuss the issue of aviation leasing within the next two weeks, in order to utilize more capacity at Aviastar and other manufacturing plants. He said that a package of orders for next year has been drawn up and that Egyptian Kato Aeromatics will finance the construction of 12 Tu-204s. Koptev added that six aircraft would be ordered by Russian airlines. Koptev's appointment may help restore the recently merged entity to some sort of order, following months of management chaos. For the government it demonstrates a desire to become actively involved in the sector again and exercise its rights as a shareholder in the new entity. Associated articles: www.concise.org. 3rd December 1999

Article ID: 1218