Russia's space agency on upgrading transport system

A program for upgrading the Russian transport system throughout 2010 will require the acquisition of an additional 900 planes for Russia's plane fleet, Valery Vyskoboinikov, Deputy General Director of the Russian aerospace agency Rosaviakosmos announced at a round table meeting today. The meeting was held in the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and it was devoted to problems in the current situation, development, production and use of contemporary domestically-produced equipment. He noted that the cost of necessary planes was estimated at $8.5bn. According to the official, the Russian budget is expected to earn $250m a year from the sale of Russian planes and an additional of $300m a year from air transport services. At the same time, experts reported that Russia's economy would lose $200m a year due to the leasing of about 30 foreign planes and about $1bn in cancelled customs duties for these planes.

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