Arseniev plant pulls up not only “sharks” and “alligators”

Interview with CEO Yurii Denisenko of Arseniev Aviation Company «Progress» named after N.I. Sazikin.

— Yurii Petrovich, your aviation plant is known due to Government Order in the field of defense for production of helicopters Ka-59 «Black shark » and Ka-52 «Alligator». However, this plant produces machines for civil purposes too. Please, tell us about programs concerning Yak-54 and Mi-34.

— We are planning to produce machines for light aviation as a part of our production program. We pay the same attention to the helicopters Ka-50, Ka-52, which are made for Army and to sporting aircrafts Yak-54, which are being produced for commercial orders.

Now the production of Yak-54 is not very profitable. We have produced 5 machines and we are going to produce another 10 machines during this year. We are planning to produce one aircraft a year.

Nowadays, the main Yak-54 line is being designed and tested. Last autumn, the first copy of this aircraft was tested by pilot Yurii Kabanov. In October 2007 in aerodrome «Ozernie kluchi» near to Vladivostok, the official presentation and demonstration flights of Yak-54, which was produced in Arseniev, took place. The representatives of king of Jordan, who is known to be a good pilot and a real fan of aviation sport, were able to become acquainted with Yak-54. Our plant is going to participate in EUR-AVIA 2008 exhibition in Cannes, France for further promotion of Yak-54 on international market.  
When we decided to start producing Yak-54, one of our main goals was to reach the balance in production capacities in the plant. If we speak about aviation plants which produce big heavy machines, its main products and light aircrafts – these constructions are absolutely different, that means different technologies, equipment and devices. We can use the same automatic machines, technological processes that we use for helicopter production.  
All work connected with the development of aircraft line is made on our own account. Today, in this country, there are no special government programs which would work in such fields as development of sporting aviation machines. Though there is a great interest from ROSTO, the financial problem has not been decided yet. What is more, in my opinion, our low base is not convenient to develop private aviation sport, as for example, in foreign countries where aviation clubs or sportsmen have their own aircrafts. We have another practice. I am sure that the Russian market of light aviation will increase and the field of sport machines will grow too. From the other hand I have to say that this sphere is very specific: there are not so many producers that can make the aircrafts of such class. If there are some models, they are very expensive; the problem is that there are no aircrafts at reasonable prices, as our Yak-54. I suppose that we will be able to make the production of these aircrafts profitable without any changes in price for customers. That is why we have to sell 5-6 machines a month instead of 10 machines a year. In early 90-s we produced single-seat aircraft Yak-55 and we sold 5-7 machines a month. Today, situation on the market has changed a lot, that is why two-men sporting aircraft is more popular, especially in foreign counties.
All problems connected with guarantee and post-guarantee service of Yak-34, which may arise during its exploitation, will be solved immediately in a plant engineer centre. Probably, when the aviation market is saturated, there will be other structures which will provide technical assistance.
You told us about aviation building in detail. Could you tell us about the program concerning the helicopter Mi-34?
We produced a bit more than 20 Mi-34 helicopters. After that, this production was stopped, though we had 9 assembled hulls. I signed this decision in 2004. The main reason is a necessity in modernization of machines because their modern condition is not competitive.  Moreover, we have very difficult relations with contractors: because the production of helicopters was counted in units, many of our contractors refused to work in this field.
If we speak about regeneration program of Mi-34, I would say that this machine is very original. It can not be compared with other machines. But now we are speaking about a light helicopter, needed in business, in private and corporate aviation. It is obvious that it needs to be modernized. I have to remind you that Mi-34, in a modernized form, is included in the model line of helicopters which will be produced by the company “Helicopters of Russia”

Segei Lelekov