Future of the MAKS airshow jeopardised by conditions at Ramenskoye

Published: 7/21/1999

Preparations for the MAKS-99 airshow are in full swing at Zhukovsky, on the outskirts of Moscow (Concise 7/12/99). But it could be Russia"s last such airshow. According to sources from Segodnya, the runway at Ramenskoye airport is almost in an unserviceable condition. Ramenskoye is better known as the testing area of the Flight Research Institute. The former top secret facility had the same status in the aviation sector as Baikonur has for the space industry. Ramenskoye has the longest runway in Europe (5.4 km), so enabling the most complicated tests and modelling of emergency situations. Now, the complex is desolate and crammed with grounded aircraft. Virtually no flight tests are held. Sometimes the airport is used for cargo planes, and every second year for the airshow. However, airshows only start recouping themselves on the tenth time. Ramenskoye is a good illustration of the acute problems that need to be addressed in the restructuring of the industry. Many companies are struggling in the twilight zone between state control and commerce. The rules have become obscured. Revenues generated do not necessarily find their way back to support an ailing infrastructure. Some maintain that, because Ramenskoye is wholly owned by LII, it is the institute that should be responsible for its own property. At the same time, LII is a state organization. The state provides the aerodrome with $2m for runway maintenance. This is insufficient for major repairs. According to Vyacheslav Bakayev, Director General of LII, the annual requirement is nearer $3-4m. This unsatisfactory status quo has been preserved for several years. Bakayev laments that there have been hundreds of unregistered take-offs and landings, with no indication of where the money has gone. There are almost 200 commercial entities on the site. The authorities began showing an interest only when LII was on the brink of bankruptcy. Then the state replaced the directorship of the institute, but nothing else changed. Bakayev complains that, following his appointment, he asked the Special Prosecutors Department whether commercial firms were legally sited at Ramenskoye. He says he has yet to receive an answer. Such firms keep operating. More cracks appear on the runway and airport services deteriorate. Funds, as always, are scarce. Aircraft designers, particularly military designers, support the notion of demanding subsidies and using the airfield exclusively for test flights. This seems unlikely. There are also plans to build an international cargo terminal at Zhukovsky. But estimates suggest that this is not viable, since existing airports are used to only 50% of capacity. Besides, the secret status of Ramenskoye does not make a combination of civilian and military use possible. LII itself considers that the state might lobby for the use of the aerodrome for Rosvooruzheniye deliveries. On the whole, experts believe that the destiny of MAKS is already questionable, for the aerodrome equipment may be used for cargo flights, but not for test flights, or for airshows. It was expected that MAKS-99 would get financing for the renovation of equipment, but it did not happen. Unless the situation changes, the MAKS airshow could bow out before the millennium.

Article ID: 693