Russia's United Aircraft (OAK) is looking for ways to take over sole responsibility for the supply of Tupolev Tu-204-120C freighters to Air China Cargo from Sirocco Aerospace International.
London-based Sirocco Aerospace, which was set up in 1999 by Kato Group of Egypt, handles the programme of building Rolls-Royce RB211-powered Tu-204-120s at Russian factory Aviastar and marketing them globally. In 2001, it brokered an agreement with China, which placed firm orders for five Tu-204-120C freighters and an option for 10 more. Deliveries have been delayed, but are due to start imminently.
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Boris Zenkov, Sirocco's executive president and head of its Moscow outlet, declines to comment on this specific issue, but says: "We continue working towards carrying out the programme as planned despite having run into a number of difficulties that are beyond our control."
Aviastar last year assembled the first freighter for Air China Cargo while China's airworthiness authority validated the type certificate for the Tu-204-120CE fitted with the English-language cockpit.
Tupolev president and chief designer Igor Shevchuk expects first delivery to take place within a month. Given that Aviastar has also completed two more models and only needs to mount engines on them, they could follow shortly afterwards.
"We'll most likely supply these three aircraft with participation of Sirocco and within the framework of the original contract," says Shevchuk. "As for the remaining two freighters under the firm order and 10 options, there's no clarity yet. During talks we're defining a degree to which Sirocco should or should not participate in the [Tu-204-120] project."
Source: Flight International
