Russia's Third Top Aircraft Industry Manager Resignes
- 26.11.2024, 13:12
Due to the disruption of aircraft production.
The ‘purging’ of top managers in the aviation industry continues in Russia. Following the heads of PJSC ‘Yakovlev’ and JSC ‘Tupolev’, Nikolay Savitskikh, director of Kazan Aircraft Plant (KAZ), lost his job, report the sources of ‘Business Online’ in the aviation industry. He was replaced by Zufar Mirgalimov, head of Lukhovitsky Aircraft Plant, who previously worked at KAZ, a branch of Tupolev. According to sources, he was chosen by the company's new CEO Alexander Bobryshev. He took charge of Tupolev the previous day.
The Tatarstan government made it clear that the resignation of Savitskikh, who had been in charge of KAZ for 11 years, occurred because of the disruption of the civil aviation programme. ‘It was necessary to take tough measures to start producing Tu-214s from 2025... Savitskikh deviated a bit from the rules that have always been in place at KAZ, namely the correct planning of what is called the schedule for creating aircraft backlogs,’ said Nazir Kireev, adviser to the republic's prime minister on the aircraft-building complex. He noted that ‘one should always do only what is necessary in aviation, not what circumstances often dictate’. ‘Nikolai and I disagreed on the issues of creating co-operation on the Tu-214,’ Kireev added.
On November 25, the United Aircraft Corporation announced the resignations of two directors of major aircraft factories, from which the authorities expected the growth of airliner production to record levels since Soviet times. Andrey Boginsky, general director of Yakovlev, and Konstantin Timofeev, managing director of Tupolev, left their posts.
The ambitious plan prepared by the government, promising to recreate the domestic aviation industry in the shortest possible time, envisaged that 40 civilian airliners would be produced in Russia in 2024. Last year Russian carriers were supposed to receive two import-substituted Sukhoi Superjets and three Tu-214 airliners, and this year - 20 machines of the first type, seven - of the second, and in addition 6 MC-21 regional airliners and two turboprop Il-114-300. In reality, the Russian aviation industry was able to produce only two Tu-214s and one Il-96-300.