The only foreign manufacturer to bring a passenger jet to the June 18 to 23 MAKS 2017 airshow outside Moscow, Airbus made use of the event in Zhukovsky to commit a public relations strike on Boeing by declaring that the size of its Russian fleet has surpassed that of its competitor. Vice president Chris Buckley told AIN that more than 300 Airbus jets now operate in Russia, compared with Boeing’s market penetration of “a bit below” that figure. “We estimate our market share at roughly 52 percent,” he said. At MAKS 2015 the respective figures were 283 and 296, respectively. The U.S. airframer still leads in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) territory with 456 jets, compared with “about four hundred” Airbuses.

It remains a mystery why Boeing canceled plans to bring a 737 Max, but the decision left Airbus as the only Western manufacturer with a commercial jet at MAKS 2017. The A350-900, MSN002, also ranked as the largest and most modern passenger airliner to take part in the flight display over the Ramenskoye aerodrome. The slightly smaller Ilyushin Il-96-300PU quadjet carrying Russian president Vladimir Putin parked nearby, as though to show the close ties between Russia and Europe. Although the sanctions regime on Moscow has only stiffened since the annexation of Crimea three years ago, the Boeing-Airbus duopoly continues to participate in Russian projects such as buying raw and machined titanium for in-production aircraft. In fact, on day one Airbus announced expanding the list of parts it buys from Rostec’s VSMPO-Avisma for the A350-1000.

Buckley stressed that half of all titanium used in A350s coming off the assembly line in Toulouse—accounting for 14 percent of the airplane’s structural weight—comes from Russia.

The ECAR engineering center employs some 250 Russians making computer drawings for the European manufacturer. At the same time, Airbus considerably reduced the volume of aluminum parts it purchases from Irkut: its German arm ceased all purchases while the French halved pre-Crimean volumes. Various explanations for the moves continue to circulate, ranging from pricing up to deliberate political decisions.

Although Airbus showed the A350-900 in Russia on three occasions before, displaying the product for the fourth time might have signaled to Aeroflot the manufacturer’s eagerness to complete an earlier negotiated order. The sides have renegotiated the original agreement, signed in 2007, several times. The customer reluctantly agreed to eliminate the -800 model from the original agreement, and focus instead on the larger -900. Aeroflot postponed deliveries, but around the same time it canceled a similar deal for 22 Boeing 787s. According to Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Saveliev, the flagcarrier is ready to take 14 A350-900s and possibly double the figure “later on.” Buckley expects the airline to stick to the -900 version, while not ruling out some limited order for the A350-1000.

“We are showing the A350 at MAKS 2017 because it symbolizes the latest technology available with Airbus,” said Buckley. “Besides, we have a very good customer for it in Russia…Interacting with the media recently, Aeroflot top executives have been very clear that they are not going to take the Dreamliners.” Perhaps insignificant in global terms, the cancellations nonetheless came as a painful blow to Boeing. Buckley disagreed with his counterparts from Boeing who depicted June’s Paris Air Show as “a complete defeat for Airbus” while acknowledging that “Boeing probably won the PR battle at Paris.”

The rivals do agree on the size of the CIS market over the next 20 years, at 1,200 to 1,230 commercial jets. According to Boeing, narrowbodies will comprise 830, making it a significant battleground between the 737 Max and A320neo. However, Buckley said he does not consider the recently introduced Max 10 any significant threat to the A321neo in terms of technical performance. “There is only one reason for us to be afraid, and that is on price,” he said. “They can only win on price.”

Both airframers have won Russian customers, and the first would-be Russian-operated A320neo on July 21 went to S7 Airlines, which also ordered nine 737 Max 8s due for shipment in 2018. This year, the number of Russian airlines operating Airbus jets rose from seven to ten, with VIM-Avia and NordWind taking A330s and Red Wings A320s. The latter said it is considering increasing its Airbus fleet from five jets to sixteen.

Despite promises of 15-percent lower fuel burn compared with the classic A320, Russian operators often consider the neo too expensive to acquire. Due to Western sanctions targeting the Russian financial sector, the cost of hired capital often proves too high for Russian airlines to afford. While acknowledging the difficulty, Buckley argued that “fuel prices have to be very low” to compensate for the neo’s markedly less fuel burn, especially after 2020, when the difference between a used A320ceo and a brand-new neo will grow to a promised 20 percent.

Boeing estimates the CIS market for new jets to be worth $140 billion.