Moscow's MAKS Air Show Opens at Zhukovsky

International aerospace show MAKS-2015 opens on the airdrome of the Mikhail Gromov Flight Research Institute in the town of Zhukovsky to the southeast of Moscow. It will continue through to August 30.

Organizers of the show expect a greater number of participants and visitors than the one reported at MAKS-2013.

Russian Minister of Industry and Commerce, Denis Manturov, said the list of countries, which had sent delegations to this year’s show, included among others France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and the US. The Czech Republic and Iran were the new arrivals.

All in all, MAKS-2015 is playing host to 150 companies from 23 foreign countries and over 580 companies from various regions of Russia.

This time, Ukraine and Israel have dropped out of the scope of participants. Vladimir Sovetkin, the Deputy Director General of the organizer company Aviasalon said that "Ukrainian representatives didn’t come for the plainly obvious reasons" but "participants from other countries have replaced them."

All in all, the airshow will be attended by delegations from more than 80 countries, Sovetkin said, adding that the numbers of general public expected to visit the display is also big, as more than 100,000 tickets have been sold already.

Overall attendance is expected to reach 400,000 people and to be roughly the same as two years ago.

The first three days of the show have been reserved for specialists and that is why adjustments have been made in the program of exhibition flights. On Tuesday, the hour from 14:00 through 15:00 Moscow Standard Time will be given to the aircraft with low noise levels while other aircraft will perform after 15:00 hours.

On the days of mass visits, the flight program will be performed in full.

Weather forecasts say conditions will be quite favorable for exhibition flights, Sovetkin said, adding that the organizers do not foresee any special steps to dispel clouds over the part of the Moscow region where the show is held.

Law and order on the compound of the Gromov Institute airdrome during the airshow will be guarded by over 3,000 policemen and servicemen of the Interior troops.

"During the weekend, their number will increase to almost 4,000" a spokesman for the regional Main Department of the Interior told TASS.

Control over the situation will involve aerial surveillance with the aid of helicopters and a balloon, while checkup at the entrance will involve cynologists with sniffing dogs.