Russia’s National Air Carrier Aeroflot Chooses Airbus over Boeing
Board of directors of Russia’s flagship air carrier Aeroflot made a decision to buy 22 A-350 aircraft between now and 2014. This information was reported by Russia’s business daily Vedomosti, which quoted a Kremlin source. The company is delaying the official statement due to recent crash at the Russian Black Sea coast, which involved an Airbus aircraft. The $3 billion tender was announced by Aeroflot mid-2005 and was held between A-350 aircraft and Boeing’s B-787 (Dreamliner) aircraft. It was believed that Boeing has higher chances of winning the tender, because its new aircraft will be available starting in 2008, while A-350 will come out to the market two years later. In February it was reported that Airbus offered Aeroflot a $100 million discount if the Russian airline chooses A-350 aircraft.
The Kremlin source, quoted by the paper, said that the choice of European aircraft was explained by the tough position of the United States in regards to Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization. By leaving Boeing without multi-billion contract Russian officials hope to influence U.S. negotiators.
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