Travel Notes

Travel Briefs

Aeroflot buys Western

Aeroflot Russian airlines announced it is planning to order 10 Boeing 737-400 jets, costing between $25mn and $30 mn each, with the aim of improving its passenger fleet. This move angered Russian aircraft makers, in particular the order-starved Kazan Aircraft Making Plant in Tatarstan, whose workers have not been paid for eight months. The conflict was finally defused when Aeroflot agreed to buy the plant’s TU-214 aircraft, but only after they were upgraded and certified. However, Aeroflot has not cancelled altogether plans to buy the Boeings. In addition, the airline has ordered 15 collision avoidance systems from Collins Commercial Avionics, a unit of the US company Rockwell International. According to Eugene Machaek, Collins program director, this was their second order  from Aeroflot, which had already bought 30 units at a cost of about $15 mn. The Russian airline  plans to equip a total of 50 planes with the system.