The 2023 Krylya Rossii (Wings of Russia) Award is due in Moscow on Tuesday, a ceremony which will see winners in a whole array of сommercial aviation-related categories, including domestic and international passenger transport, business aviation and helicopter operations.
"The Wings of Russia Award is related to not only air carriers but also airports, manufacturers, and technicians, among other things," Drozdenko told Sputnik.
In this regard, he added, "our most ambitious project now is to maintain and increase the volume of passenger traffic." This which was seriously hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by Western countries' sanctions against Moscow, which were introduced shortly after the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
As for the sanctions, they interfere with the work of our airlines and airports, while also affecting security, Drozdenko said before going on to praise the efforts of Russian airmen to restore the country’s commercial aircraft industry.
In this vein, developing the country’s own civil aviation production remains a priority, given that in previous years, some domestically made passenger planes, such as the Sukhoi Superjet 100, was made with plenty of foreign parts, according to the Arsenal Otechestva editor-in-chief.
He also admitted that overcoming the fallout of the sanctions, especially in the field of import substitution in the commercial aviation sector would be a protracted and "difficult" process.
Drozdenko was echoed by Alexey Butrimov, founder of the Russian business aviation company Bjet, who told Sputnik that full-blown import substitution is a complicated process, which stipulates obtaining relevant documentation, designers and workers, as well as support within the framework of the Federal Aviation Regulations.
"It’s necessary to simplify and speed up these processes, as well as let [Russian] companies try and produce their own products, including new products, especially in electronic components," Butrimov underlined.
West's Anti-Russian Sanctions
Shortly after Russian launched its special military operation in Ukraine, the US and its allies started introducing packages of "severe sanctions" on Russia, which led to disruptions in supply chains and resulted in a spike in energy prices worldwide, while also instigating inflation in the EU and the US.
President Vladimir Putin recently stressed that his country has bolstered its economic sovereignty since 2022 and did not collapse due to the sanctions as Russia’s "enemy" expected.
"Despite certain costs, I think that last year was only beneficial, given that we have become much more sovereign and independent in the economy," he pointed out. Putin earlier emphasized that the anti-Russian sanctions had backfired on those who imposed them.
With the EU’s 10 sanction packages against Russia already in place, the bloc has meanwhile made it clear it has no plans to ramp up the sanctions pressure any further, voicing concerns that doing so could affect sectors which European countries “can’t live without,” such as imports of fuel for nuclear power plants, and precious metals.