Top > Business > 2006 > August > 2006-08-14

Russia to Still Work with Boeing

Last Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he will continue to support U.S. aircraft giant Boeing, and its business activities in the Russian Federation, despite recent American sanctions levied against two Russian defense firms. According to Russian media, Boeing and Russian titanium giant Vsmpo-Avisma announced a joint venture. In the reports, Putin told Alan Mullaly, who is the chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airlines, during a visit to Moscow that ?We are ready to support the development of your business in Russia.?

The move comes at a time of intense rivalry between Boeing and European airplane manufacturer Airbus. Airbus and Boeing have both revealed stunning new, incredibly large, aircraft but recent profit-quoting scandals at Airbus have left the distribution dates of the company?s latest model in doubt. The losses for Airbus are expected to be in the hundreds of millions ? and quite possibly billions ? of euros.

Both Boeing and Airbus have accused the governments in the respect countries or blocks in which they are based of unfairly providing government aid against international agreements not to. Mr. Mullaly, during his Russia visit, noted that Boeing has invested heavily in Russia`s high-tech sectors, including titanium production and the country?s overall aerospace industry, and that at least 2,000 Russian-born engineers were helping to design the latest Boeing airliners.