Voronezh Aircraft Plant - aka Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Manufacturing Company - is one of the most famous enterprises of Voronezh. At different times, it brought the city the fame of the best engineers, and shame for the work done.
Company History
Voronezh Aviation Plant has a truly great history. For almost 90 years, he has been manufacturing aircraft for the needs of the state. It was created at the dawn of the emergence of Soviet industry and was erected in record time.
Mostly military aircraft were produced at that time. The company produced IL-2 attack aircraft and IL-4 bombers. However, the Voronezh Aviation Plant was not limited to military products - the legendary ANT-25 was assembled at the enterprise, where Soviet pilots covered record distances.
During the war, the plant had to be evacuated to Samara, however, even in the evacuation, the enterprise released more than 35,000 attack aircraft, which made a worthy contribution to the victory of the USSR in the war, and the plant was allowed to receive the Order of Lenin.
In 1993, the plant fell into private hands, and since then the need for its existence has been constantly questioned. The controlling stake eventually began to be controlled by the state, but this did not bring greater stability to the enterprise.
Voronezh Aviation Plant experienced mass layoffs, balancing on the verge of bankruptcy, and large-scale government contracts. What will happen to the company next? This question remains open.
Work at the Voronezh Aircraft Building Plant
Plant employees respond to work in different ways. Mostly workers make a number of claims regarding working conditions and equipment. Let's talk about them in more detail:
- despite the fact that VASO produces civil aviation for the first persons of the state, at the enterprise you can find machines captured during the Great Patriotic War;
- showers do not always work, and sanitary facilities have not been repaired for decades;
- it’s quite cold in the shops in winter.
The average salary at the plant for ordinary specialties ranges from 20 to 30 thousand rubles.
Financial crisis
From a financial point of view, the Voronezh Aviation Plant is in a state of protracted crisis. Every year, the company's management publishes financial statements, according to which VASO incurs tremendous losses - more than 1 billion rubles. Such indicators are depressing even by the standards of large state industrial companies.
The reasons for this development can only be guessed. Economic experts open an extensive debate every year, trying to understand why the plant is overloaded with state orders, production is operating at full capacity, but the company still incurs enormous losses.
According to media reports, since 2019 there is a possibility of discontinuing the production of a number of aircraft models, which means that VASO may lose up to 30% of its annual income. So there is no reason to think about a positive perspective.
Scandalous cases
The past few years have become critical for the reputation of the Voronezh Aviation Plant. In 2011, as a result of equipment failures, 6 people were killed: during the test, the plane fell apart in the air.
And already in 2018, the whole country shuddered from the terrible news - another plane produced at the Voronezh Aircraft Plant crashed. According to the press service of VASO, the aircraft has exhausted only a quarter of the mortgaged resource.
What will happen to the plant further is difficult to predict. The fact that the enterprise requires large-scale modernization is understandable to almost everyone who touched on the topic of industry. Will we see any steps to save the historical industrial center of Voronezh, or will the plant go bankrupt and die? The answer to this question remains to be seen.