Boeing is ready to lift its opposition to $1 billion in U.S. government loan guarantees to Aeroflot, a spokesman for the American jet manufacturer said Thursday.


Earlier, Boeing Co. had opposed the loans, earmarked for the purchase of 20 Russian-made Il-96M aircraft with U.S.-built Pratt & Whitney engines, saying it could set a dangerous precedent for financing a U.S. competitor by the Export-Import Bank.


Kostya Zolotusky, Boeing's European sales director, said the company agreed to lift its opposition to the loan on the condition that the future deal would be "a unique exception" and "won't create a precedent."


"We are not against the loan. But it violates the rule of Ex-Im Bank that such loans must not support projects longer than five years," he said at a news conference. "So we want to be sure that this will be the only exception."


An official announcement about the loan guarantees is expected Friday after the Ex-Im Bank board meets in Washington, Pratt & Whitney spokeswoman Natalya Paroyatnikova said.


Aeroflot-Russian International Airlines signed a $1.5 billion contract at the Paris Air Show earlier this year for 20 new Ilyushin Il-96Ms with P&W engines.


But the contract, which provides for delivery of 10 cargo and 10 passenger planes, was threatened by strong opposition by Boeing and other American manufacturers to the Ex-Im Bank financing. Pratt & Whitney is a Canadian subsidiary of the American United Technologies company.


A stalemate in the loan negotiations was broken earlier this week when Economics Minister Yevgeny Yasin met Ex-Im Bank executives in Washington and reached an agreement.


"This is a very important step from an economic and political point of view, since it is capable of influencing the further development of Russian-American relationship as a whole," Yasin said in an interview with Interfax.


Under a scheme coordinated in Washington, Aeroflot will form a trust company, to which Ex-Im Bank will grant a credit of $1 billion to purchase the Ilyushin jets, Yasin said.


According to Igor Katyrev, head of Ilyushin's foreign relations department, the Pratt & Whitney engine was chosen because Russian engines have a short lifespan and efficiency and cannot meet Western standards.


The engines to be fitted on the 20 jets will be PW2337s made directly by Pratt & Whitney. But the United Technologies division also has teamed up with the Russian aero-engine manufacturer Perm Motors to develop a more advanced version of a new Russian wide-chord turbofan called the PS 90.


?A series of Russian customs duty increases sharply hit cargo volumes moving from the Persian Gulf trading center of Dubai to Moscow in the past year, Russian international carrier Aeroflot said Thursday, Reuters reported.


"The cargo business is reduced. Every year they [Russian authorities] increase customs duties so it affects cargo flows," Aeroflot Dubai cargo manager Viktor Savchenko said.


Savchenko said freight volumes from Dubai to Moscow had dropped to 2,200 tons in 1994 from over 3,000 tons in 1993. The 1995 total is expected to fall further to 1,500-2,000 tons.