Maksim covers aerospace developments in Central Asia for Aviation Week. He has worked for Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine and was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications after working for the Moscow-based CAST defense think tank.
Maksim has a degree in international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow.
The Antonov An-148 regional jet has never been the kind of industrial darling of the government as the Sukhoi Superjet 100, and it has faced many challenges in development. Ironically, now that the program is reaching operational highs, its prospects are at their bleakest. A weak order backlog is drawing into question the Ukrainian-Russian program, developed by Antonov's Kiev-based design bureau and built under license by Russia's VASO plant. But VASO officials are not ready to throw in the towel yet.
The number of Russian-made civil aircraft flying is dwindling, even here in their home market. Russian airlines have been phasing out their Soviet-legacy fleets the past 5-6 years and replacing them with Western models. This shift decreases the demand for Russian-built aircraft spare parts and is forcing local parts providers to diversify their stock with foreign types.
The growth of the air transport market, has triggered massive fleet renewal by the Russian carriers with Western-built aircraft carrying 89% of the country's passengers in 2011.
