Rostekhnologii to Compete with Aeroflot

The State Corporation Rostekhnologii (Russian Technologies) established on the base of Rosoboroneksport (State Corporation responsible for arms sales) in late 2007 may affiliate the air companies belonging to AiRUnion, a Russian airline alliance. Last week the Ministry of Transportation submitted all the documents required for the affiliation to the government.
Gazeta.ru reports, the ambitions of the empire headed by Sergey Chemezov do not stop here. The director of Rosimushchestvo (Russian Federal Agency for Federal Property Management) Valeriy Nazarov said that transference of the state share holdings in S7, Vladivostok Avia and Rossiya air companies to Rostekhnologii is possible. Having consolidated the holdings Rostekhnologii will be able to create a unified air carrier able to compete with Aeroflot at the internal market and global air carriers at the external one.
Experts do not question the ability of Rostekhnologii to obtain the air companies’ assets but they are not sure that the prospective air giant will be proficient enough in the air business.