[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Aeroflot set to expand air fleet by 2010

MOSCOW, February 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's leading air carrier, Aeroflot, intends to expand its fleet from the present 90 to more than 110 aircraft by 2010, incorporating increasing numbers of foreign-made aircraft, a company official said Thursday.

"The last few years have shown that if Aeroflot continues to use high-cost Soviet-made planes (manufactured before 1990), then our airline cannot be competitive," Sergei Koltovich, the head of the company's planning and development service, said.

Koltovich said that was why Aeroflot had drafted a long-term program to buy new aircraft until 2010, mostly planes from Boeing and Airbus, as well as Russian Regional Jets, a project involving Russia's Sukhoi aerospace firm and international subcontractors.

In 2006, Aeroflot will buy 12 A-320 planes from the European aircraft giant to replace Tu-154 Ms. "The contract has been signed and approved by the board of directors," Koltovich said.

He said from late 2006 Aeroflot would gradually decommission Soviet-era Tu-154 and Tu-134 aircraft.