Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) has been forced to put on hold a planned USD100billion joint-venture with Russian tech-conglomerate Rostekhnologii (Rostec) for "at least a year" as result of deteriorating relations between Russia and the West. The project was to have taken off later this year with the establishment of a Dash 8-400 production facility in the Russian city of Ulyanovsk.
"We are in negotiations with Rostec and hope to reach an agreement in 2014. But, given the context of what is going on right now, the project's schedule may move to next year," Bombardier spokeswoman, Marianella de la Barrera, told Russia's Vedomosti newspaper. “However, considering there are only three months left before the end of the year, we are being realistic and it could take a little longer than that. The timeline could shift. But we are in active discussions and we are still committed.”
Canada joined the United States and the European Union in imposing sanctions on Russia following its unilateral annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine earlier this year. Additional punitive measures were imposed in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International) flight MH17 in July which killed all 298 on-board. The West collectively blame Russian-backed rebels for the disaster.
Meanwhile, the Ilyushin Design Bureau (Zhukovsky) has responded positively to Russian government overtures concerning the proposed relaunch of the Il-114 regional turboprop. As Russia attempts to break its heavy dependency on western-manufactured aircraft, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said a revamped Il-114 would require a complete makeover of the aircraft's design and "a profound modernization."
Launched in 1990 as a replacement for the An-24, production of the Il-114 was suspended in July 2012 after only twenty were built.
