UAC Creates Connected Aircraft Enterprise
Summary
In Okulov’s view, the indigenous aircraft manufacturing industry has a bad reputation among airlines for deplorable aftersales support resulting in low utilization of locally made passenger jets. Neither Airbus nor Boeing is interested in practical efforts on the materialization of such a radical concept because that duopoly has a seven- to nine-year backlog on the major types it produces, Okulov explained. Under this concept, the manufacturer would act as “as a service provider that undertakes all obligations on aircraft availability and flight safety, including speedy provision of a replacement airplane” when necessary. As part of this broader effort, UAC is developing CAE as a common IT platform that would unite the OEM, its vendors and suppliers, as well as financial institutions, lessors, and airlines. After the software package is tested and cleared as being mature for commercial application, UAC will distribute it free of charge to airline partners, “since above 80 percent of those do not have the financial resources to buy it anyway,” said SCAC general manager Kamil Gayutdinov, who was a former Boeing employee.