Russia’s Vityaz Avia has signed an agreement with Canada’s Viking Air which may lead to production of the new Twin Otter Series 400 utility aircraft in Russia.
If the plan goes ahead, it would be the first licence-production of a modern Western utility aircraft in a market dominated by the 1940s-vintage Antonov An-2 biplane.
The agreement was announced at the Farnborough air show.
There is "enormous untapped potential in the Russian market" for the Twin Otter 400, Robert Mauracher, Viking general manager, told the Vancover Sun newspaper.
Vityaz has already ordered two commuter-type Series 400 Twin Otters for use as demonstrators and is the sales representative in Russia.
If it goes ahead, the final-assembly plant in Eastern Russia could become a service center and training facility for the Twin Otter 400.
Viking and Vityaz will also seek Russian certification for the Series 400.
Viking relaunched production of the Twin Otter in 2007. The first new-production aircraft flew in February this year, and Viking says it has a backlog through 2014.
The aircraft earned a reputation for reliability and was well suited to operating from primitive landing strips in harsh conditions.
Of the more than 800 Twin Otters originally built by de Havilland, more than 600 are still flying.
