In addition to writing for Aviation Week Network, Maxim holds a key position at Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine (www.ato.ru). In the past he was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications and earlier worked for the Moscow-based CAST defense think-tank.
Maxim has a degree on international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, and for several years worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The first group of Kazakh pilots and technicians has already arrived at the aircraft’s assembly facility in Irkutsk, Russia, for one-month type conversion ground training.
According to the preliminary data provided by Russia’s Transport Clearing House, local airlines carried 93 million passengers last year, a 10% increase over 2013.
Still, UAC has more experience in major composite structures than the Chinese industry has, although Avic, Comac’s airframe supplier, owns Austrian composites-specialist FACC.
