United Aircraft is considering choosing an alternative construction site for a planned Airbus A320-family freighter conversion facility.
Following the joint-venture agreement with EADS two years ago, UAC assigned work on ageing A320s to an underused Myasishchev plant near Moscow Zhukovsky's Gromov flight test institute, and earlier this year UAC's Irkut unit, the Russian partner for the conversion project, opted to build a new workshop at Zhukovsky.
But Irkut president Oleg Demchenko says he is negotiating with Ulyanovsk's regional administration about siting the facility near Tupolev airframer Aviastar, at the city's Vostochny airport, a location that could provide tax advantages.
UAC and Irkut plan to make a final choice by October. EADS's representative in Moscow, Vadim Vlasov, says Airbus would welcome either location, provided the conversion work on A320s remains on schedule for 2013.
Source: Flight International
