Business jet manufacturers Cessna Aircraft and Dassault Aviation expect the current trickle of sales to customers in Russia and the CIS to continue, but rule out any significant pick-up until the region's economies improve. The two were the only Western firms to exhibit aircraft at MAKS '99.
Cessna says it has sold six aircraft to "Russian interests" during the past six years, five of them Citation business jets, and predicts sales to continue at the rate of "one or two a year over the next couple of years".
The Wichita, Kansas-based company predicts, however, that the market's long-term potential is "huge", particularly for its Caravan single-turboprop utility aircraft.
Dassault says that Russian and CIS customers have purchased around 15 pre-owned examples of its business jets, and that it has delivered four new Falcon 900Bs and one Falcon 50, as well as one Falcon 2000.
Source: Flight International
