In a live broadcast of Results of the Year, answering the question “Will we fly and on what?”, Vladimir Putin noted that some domestic airlines bought foreign aircraft in large volumes, which led to the overloading of the Russian aircraft market with foreign equipment and limited the ability of the domestic aviation industry to develop.
“As for foreign-made airplanes. Yes, indeed, we have constantly had disputes with our companies that purchased without restrictions, conditionally without restrictions, nevertheless, too many foreign-made aircraft, arguing also with understandable considerations – engine efficiency, compliance with noise requirements of international organizations. There are many arguments. But it would be better if they were concerned in time to create a market for domestic equipment. All the time we have been talking about it, one way or another we have managed to create this market. But our aircraft fleet is very overloaded with foreign-made airplanes,” said the President.
Vladimir Putin has already raised the issue of the overpopulation of Airbus and Boeing airplanes on the Russian civil aviation market. On July 19, at a meeting with members of the government, the head of state reproached Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev for excessive trust in Western aircraft manufacturers in previous years.
“Here you said about the reasons for the growth of tariffs, the growth of ticket costs, including those related to logistics, the delivery of necessary spare parts and so on. And remember, when you were still the head of Aeroflot, I persuaded you to order as many domestic aircraft as possible, you and I even fought about it – you told me that Western partners are reliable, everything is so good, and they are good,” Vladimir Putin reminded the head of the Transport Ministry, who served as Aeroflot’s CEO in 2009-2020.
“But now our aircraft manufacturers, of course, overnight can not expand their production capabilities, it will require a certain amount of time even though the order has appeared, increased,” – stated the head of state.
He noted that Russian airlines did the right thing when they did not respond to “all kinds of unlawful actions on the part of leasing companies”. The airplanes are bought out and become the property of domestic carriers.
“But it is necessary to develop our own airplane building. I hope that all the plans we have in mind, and we plan to produce over a thousand airplanes by 2030, this is MS-21, this is the re-equipment of existing aircraft with our domestic engines, it is necessary to enter into production of the next engine, more powerful, PD-35 with a powerful thrust – this will enable us to increase the number of long-range aircraft, including Il-96-400. I will repeat once again, I hope that all these plans will be realized,” Vladimir Putin said.
In 2023, Russia did not produce a single passenger airplane. The reasons for this are different. The MS-21 and SJ-100 are undergoing import substitution, testing of already completed units is going on, some of them, which have passed certification, are being installed on aircraft under construction. In the workshops of the Irkutsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft factories there is a stockpile waiting for certification of Russian components, so that it would be possible to complete the production of aircraft and start handing them over to airlines. The deadline for completion of certification work on both types is the end of 2024.
In Tupolev Design Bureau told about possible modifications of the Tu-214 aircraft
Kazan Aircraft Plant was to build three medium-haul Tu-214 airplanes this year. However, the enterprise does not have the necessary production capacity for this volume. On the territory of KAZ new buildings are being erected, where aggregates and components will be produced, as well as the in-line no-step assembly of these airliners will be carried out. In addition, 13% of components require import substitution, including some avionics systems. Construction of three Tu-214s will continue in 2024. From 2025 the plant should reach 10 airplanes annually, and from 2027 – 20 airplanes per year
The production of turboprop Il-114-300 has been pushed back by two years. The reasons were given in the fall of 2023: these are force majeure circumstances that prevented PJSC IL from fulfilling in time its obligations under the contract for the delivery of three IL-114-300 aircraft. In this regard, the aircraft deliveries have been postponed to 2026.
The Ministry of Transportation explained that due to the crash of the IL-112B prototype aircraft, PJSC IL is unable to carry out certification activities for the IL-114-300. The suspension of flight testing and certification activities is about two years, which has a direct impact on the possibility of continuing development work, aircraft manufacturing and delivery within the contractual deadline.
The Tu-214 will be built on the in-line without a staple assembly line
Prospects for the wide-body Il-96-400M are vague. On April 16, 2021, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that the resumption of serial production of the Il-96-400M wide-body long-range airliner is not planned, the airliner will be produced piece by piece for a special customer. And in July 2023 it became known that the decision on the feasibility of serial production of the airplane will be made after certification tests of the machine.
It can be assumed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is not ready to decide on the required number of airplanes of this type and the future of IL-96-400M in general. The reason may be in anticipation of the PD-35 engine, which could replace the PS-90A1 engines, or in anticipation of the Chinese C929, for which Russia plans to supply both the propulsion system and the composite wing.
Besides, VASO, as well as KAZ, cannot quickly increase the construction of wide-body airliners, the reasons are the same as for Tu-214: insufficient production capacity. During the year there was no information about the construction of new IL-96-400M airplanes at VASO. At the same time, in December 2023, an experimental modernized aircraft made its first flight.
Alexander Inozemtsev told about the timing of the PD-35 engine testing start date
The LMS-901 Baikal and TVRS-44 Ladoga aircraft of the Ural Civil Aviation Plant are in the process of development, testing and preparation for serial production. Their appearance is expected after 2025-2026.
“Baikal” requires import substitution of the engine, for this aircraft UZGA is developing a VK-800SM turboprop engine. By the end of 2023, it is to enter flight testing as part of the Yak-40LL flying laboratory at SibNIA, and the first flight of the aircraft with the VK-800SM engine is scheduled for the third quarter of 2024. LMS-901 certification is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025.
The TVRS-44 Ladoga may appear no earlier than 2026. The Ural Civil Aviation Plant explains this by the fact that it is not possible to perform the entire scope of tests within the established timeframe using only two flight prototypes. The first prototype airplane is currently under construction.
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