The article presents a comparative analysis of Russian and Western (North American and European) approaches to the study of public policy in the aircraft industry. The key works of Russian and foreign authors devoted to the analysis of state policy in the aviation industry are considered, the context of research is determined, as well as their main directions, the current state of the practice of studying state policy in the aviation industry in Russia and Western countries is described. Based on the results of the work, a conclusion is made about the historically established diff erences in the approaches of domestic and foreign authors to the study of state policy in the aviation industry. While the Western research tradition is characterized by the attribution of the problems of state policy in the aviation industry to the subject fi eld of economics, then in Russian practice the transition of the considered problems from historical science to economics (in the direction of solving applied problems) is manifested. In addition, for Russian researchers, the issue of the development of the aviation industry lies in the political and social sphere (the industry aims to ensure the connectivity of the country’s territory, the mobility of the population, the expansion of logistics opportunities for cargo transportation, the development of the Arctic zone, etc.). More attention is paid to the political and managerial, social and geopolitical factors of the development of the industry.