If Russians can’t do it, it can’t be done

by Kaiser Edamame

In the continuing spat over the investability of Russian equities, I offer the following picture which once again shows that Russian aircraft manufacturers (in this case Ilyushin) and Russian airlines (in this case Vaso Air) have everything under control.

Aeroflotfun

Taken on January 10th, the mere inches of runway left before this plane gets airborne clearly depict two things: 1) Russians are strict stewards of capital only building as much runway as absolutely necessary and 2) Once in place, Russians focus on high asset utilization, using as much of the runway as possible to generate outsized returns.

Recommendation: Long the Russian aviation sector. We believe Russian airlines are likely to use 30% more runway than other carriers, 20% more runway than is legally allowed, and only 1% less runway than is possible. This will lead to profits.

With thanks to enplaned for the pic



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Comments

  1. February 23rd, 2006 | 11:32 pm

    And they also seem to enjoy taking risks, which can be good for business.

    You also seem to be more and more long Russia. Does it mean “short Ukraine”, or the other ex-soviet republics can be taken seriously too?

  2. Mr Juggles
    February 24th, 2006 | 3:43 am

    No Russia is inherently different, both culturallty and investingwise. But it’s true, Johnny Debacle is losing this argument.