OREANDA-NEWS. Rostec and DAI, an Austrian manufacturer of composite aircrafts are to launch the production of multi purpose aircrafts accommodated for 9 and up to 19 passengers.

According to information revealed at the meeting of the Presidential Aviation Development Commission this project will allow to transfer technologies as well as manufacture and certification of new generation aircrafts. This means that Rostec will be able to gain a large share of the Russian small aircraft market.

Initially aircrafts and their engines will be assembled in Austria. Later on some components of aircrafts will be manufactured at Rostec’s production facilities such as RT-Khimkompozit that will be making composite parts.

At the final stage, i.e. by the year 2016 a new manufacturing plant with a production capacity of up to 60 EASA, АР МАК certified diesel composite aircrafts a year will have been launched.

“The cooperation with DAI will enable a transfer of cutting-edge technologies that are of crucial importance for Russia. These technologies will allow us to dramatically reduce production and maintenance costs of small aircrafts and increase their fuel cost-effectiveness”, said Aleksey Fedorov, the managing director of aviation projects at Rostec.

According to Mr. Fedorov this will make it possible to keep the market price for diesel aircrafts accommodated for 9 and up to 19 passengers at 120 million to 80 million rubles, which is twice cheaper than the price for turboprop all-metal and hybrid aircrafts. By 2018 the project will require a total investment of about 10 billion rubles.

Currently 90 percent of commercial aircrafts consist of outdated AN-2. By 2025 89 percent of commercial aircrafts and 79 percent of general aviation aircrafts will be written off due to tear and wear.

The Russian aircraft fleet will require 1310 small aircrafts. Rostec is going to manufacture about 800 aircrafts by 2025.

DIAMOND AIRCRAFT INDUSTRIES (DAI) is an Austrian-based manufacturer of composite aircrafts. The company has its representative offices in the largest cities of North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. DAI specializes in manufacturing cost-effective and easily maintainable civil aircrafts. The company’s products are all efficient and reliable be it a one or two engine propeller-driven aircrafts or Earth remote sensing systems.