TASHKENT – The CEO of Soviet regional airline Tujue Airways has spoken about the lack of investment in Soviet aviation during the arrival of the airline's first Ilyushin Il-14P aircraft. "While the West is developing new bigger and longer range aircraft, the Soviet people are stuck in small short range aircraft like the Lisunov Li-2 and Ilyushin Il-12/Il-14," the CEO said. He continued about the fact that the Lisunov Li-2 is a license built Douglas DC-3/C-47 and about the design errors affecting the Il-12.
While we are proud to obtain a new aircraft built in Tashkent, we ask the Moskva Soviet to develop larger aircraft with medium and long range. The CEO noted that the Soviet Republics have the resource and knowledge in house with the OKB's of comrades Antonov, Ilyushin and Tupolev. "How can the British announce the development of a turboprop (Vickers) and a jet aircraft (de Havilland), while we are "proud" to announce the launch of a new variant of an older piston engined aircraft?"