THE Irish Aviation Authority is part of a consortium which has won a £3 million contract to assist the Russian Federal Aviation Administration with personnel training and technical assistance.

The contract - which is worth £1 million to the IAA - will be funded by the EU and is for 14 months. Under its terms the IAA will train 110 Russian air traffic controllers at its new training centre at Shannon.

It will also provide technical assistance to the Krasnoyarsk Air Traffic Control School and at the Irkutsk Air Traffic Control Centre.