The governments of Russia and Ukraine have so far managed to prevent Western manufacturers from penetrating their countries’ markets for regional aircraft in the hope that local producers could develop competitive products. But officials have warned that prohibitive import taxes will not hold forever, particularly as Russia pushes ever harder for accession into the World Trade Organization. The Kremlin has said that the import tax on new foreign-built aircraft, currently at 20 percent, will gradually fall, potentially generating much more Western interest in a market that has begun to show signs of recovery from its post-Soviet hangover.
Even today, some large second-hand airliners have begun to break through the Iron Curtain, with Ulyanovsk-based Volga-Dnepr awaiting delivery of two Boeing 747s and Moscow’s VIM-Avia up to twelve 757s. In the regional market, Bombardier Dash 8s and ATR 42s stand next in line for potential placement with Siberia’s UTAir, which has issued a contract tender for five airplanes to replace 10 An-24s. Of the two remaining Western turboprop builders, Bombardier projects a presence in Russia with several Dash 8-100s, which, under hire by Sakhalin AirRoutes, serve free economic zones in Russia’s Far East, notably Sakhalin Island, where international fossil-fuel giants help explore oil fields.
