GEOPOLITICS
For three decades, MAKS showcased Russia's aviation ambitions to the world. Its prolonged absence now tells a very different story.
Leonid Faerberg
Editor
The last MAKS airshow took place in the summer of 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Four years later, the repeated postponements raise a larger question: is Russia's flagship aviation exhibition merely on hold, or has an era quietly come to an end?
On June 11, 2026, it became known that the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon (or just Moscow Airshow) would once again not take place. The Russian government removed MAKS 2026 (along with the Hydroaviasalon seaplane exhibition in Gelendzhik) from the official list of international exhibitions of military products. No official explanation was provided. As a result, the country’s largest aviation forum has now been canceled or postponed for a fourth consecutive time: after the cancellation of the 2023, 2024, and 2025 events, MAKS 2026 will also not be held. The last edition of the air show took place in the summer of 2021, during the height of the pandemic. At the same time, MAKS remains included in the government’s exhibition plans for 2027.
Photo: Leonid Faerberg
Officially, Russian authorities have said very little. The closest thing to an explanation came in 2025, when Rostec chief Sergey Chemezov was asked why MAKS had been postponed yet again. His answer was brief: “You understand what times we are living in.”
For Russia’s aviation sector, the disappearance of MAKS carries a significance far beyond the cancellation of another trade show. Since the early 1990s, the air show at Zhukovsky has served multiple functions. It was not only a venue for displaying new aircraft and signing contracts. Equally important was its role as a political and symbolic showcase for Russian aviation. It was here that the industry presented its achievements to the country’s leadership, foreign delegations, and prospective customers. In terms of commercial transactions, MAKS could never rival Le Bourget, Farnborough, or Dubai, yet it remained a crucial venue for access to those who shaped decisions within Russian aviation.
After 2022, the situation changed dramatically. Most Western aerospace manufacturers ceased cooperation with Russia, foreign participation largely disappeared, and the exhibition’s international character came into question. At the same time, concerns over the security of a large-scale public event of this kind increased significantly. Although Russian authorities have never directly linked the cancellation of MAKS to security considerations, this is the explanation most frequently cited by both Russian and foreign observers.
For Russia’s aviation sector, the disappearance of MAKS carries a significance far beyond the cancellation of another trade show. Since the early 1990s, the air show at Zhukovsky has served multiple functions. It was not only a venue for displaying new aircraft and signing contracts. Equally important was its role as a political and symbolic showcase for Russian aviation. It was here that the industry presented its achievements to the country’s leadership, foreign delegations, and prospective customers. In terms of commercial transactions, MAKS could never rival Le Bourget, Farnborough, or Dubai, yet it remained a crucial venue for access to those who shaped decisions within Russian aviation.
After 2022, the situation changed dramatically. Most Western aerospace manufacturers ceased cooperation with Russia, foreign participation largely disappeared, and the exhibition’s international character came into question. At the same time, concerns over the security of a large-scale public event of this kind increased significantly. Although Russian authorities have never directly linked the cancellation of MAKS to security considerations, this is the explanation most frequently cited by both Russian and foreign observers.
The challenge is also substantive. Historically, MAKS served as the principal stage for showcasing the achievements of Russia’s aviation and aerospace industries. Today, the sector is undergoing a difficult period of reconfiguration. Import-substitution programs and the development of the MC-21-310, SJ-100, Il-114, and their associated powerplants continue, yet many of these projects remain in testing or are only approaching serial production. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to fill the air show with the volume of premieres, technological milestones, and international participation that traditionally attracted the attention of the press and the professional community.
There is also a less obvious reason. For three decades, MAKS functioned as a platform through which Russian aviation told a story about its future. Every two years it offered new projects, prototypes, advanced engines, and ambitious development plans. Today, the industry’s priorities are far more practical: import substitution, certification, the launch of serial production, and the maintenance of the existing fleet. Such an agenda is inherently less spectacular and less suited to the logic of a major international air show.
In foreign commentary, the cancellation of MAKS is often viewed as one sign of Russia’s gradual withdrawal from the traditional system of international aerospace exhibitions and professional exchanges. During the 2000s and 2010s, MAKS ranked among the world’s most prominent air shows alongside Le Bourget, Farnborough, Dubai, and Singapore. Today, however, the Russian aerospace industry increasingly operates within a more self-contained environment.
The fourth consecutive cancellation of MAKS therefore represents more than an organizational decision. It marks the end of an era. For several generations of engineers, pilots, journalists, industry professionals, and aviation enthusiasts, MAKS symbolized Russia’s return to the global aviation community after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, it inherited the legacy of Soviet-era aviation festivals and flying displays that for decades helped shape the country’s distinctive aviation culture.
There is also a less obvious reason. For three decades, MAKS functioned as a platform through which Russian aviation told a story about its future. Every two years it offered new projects, prototypes, advanced engines, and ambitious development plans. Today, the industry’s priorities are far more practical: import substitution, certification, the launch of serial production, and the maintenance of the existing fleet. Such an agenda is inherently less spectacular and less suited to the logic of a major international air show.
In foreign commentary, the cancellation of MAKS is often viewed as one sign of Russia’s gradual withdrawal from the traditional system of international aerospace exhibitions and professional exchanges. During the 2000s and 2010s, MAKS ranked among the world’s most prominent air shows alongside Le Bourget, Farnborough, Dubai, and Singapore. Today, however, the Russian aerospace industry increasingly operates within a more self-contained environment.
The fourth consecutive cancellation of MAKS therefore represents more than an organizational decision. It marks the end of an era. For several generations of engineers, pilots, journalists, industry professionals, and aviation enthusiasts, MAKS symbolized Russia’s return to the global aviation community after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, it inherited the legacy of Soviet-era aviation festivals and flying displays that for decades helped shape the country’s distinctive aviation culture.
Today, the absence of MAKS is increasingly becoming a symbol of a new reality in which Russia’s aviation industry is forced to seek its own path of development outside the familiar frameworks of international cooperation. For many professionals, the disappearance of the air show is perceived not merely as the loss of an exhibition venue, but as the closing of a chapter that began in the first post-Soviet years with hopes of integrating Russian aviation into the global marketplace.