Published: 8/21/1998

In an interview with ConCISe, Igor Leiko, senior vice-president and general director of structured finance with Incombank, said the financier has already been working on serious aviation projects for three and a half years. In total, $40m has been invested into industrial programmes such as aircraft production, certification and testing, and $67m into various deals with five Russian airlines, including the flag-carrier, on keeping their airplanes in an airworthy condition. According to Leiko, Incombank has not made its final choice on which project to support, the Il-114 or Tu-134M. The former is a brand-new turboprop commuter aircraft with 64 seats, while the other is a retrofitted variant of the old Tu-134 jet with new D-436 engines. "Both projects are to do with regional aviation so it is unlikely we will finance them both. To me, the Il-114 seems preferable because it is a new airframe, whereas the Tu-134M would invariably have lifetime limitations", Leiko said. According to him, the target price for one newly-built Il-114 should be some $8m when the project goes in full gear. At the same time, modernisation of a Tu-134B into Tu-134M standard would cost $5m, whereas the calendar lifetimes for the Il-114 and Tu-134M would be 15 and five years, respectively. Leiko claimed that the financial scheme of'engine deals' between Incombank, Rybinsk Motors and Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines on the overhaul of Tu-154M's D-30KUs proved workable. In all, there were four such agreements, worth $60m in total, in which Incombank provides funds for the work to be done by Rybinsk Motors, which is then re-funded from the sales of tickets on Aeroflot flights flown by Tu-154Ms with the repaired engines. The whole sum is to be paid off in two years time, Leiko said. It is known that other CIS airlines are interested in using the scheme, including Uzbekiston Khavo Yullari. Leiko confirmed that the bank is helping Sukhoi with the research work on such advanced projects as the S-21 supersonic business jet and KR-860 super-large airliner, but confessed that so far a very moderate amount of money has been spent on these programmes. At the same time, considerable investments have been provided for setting up the Yak-130 and M-101T Gzhel production line at the Sokol plant in Nizhny Novgorod.(IN898.2) (VK)

Article ID: 242