The transfer of two Tu-204/214 aircraft to Red Wings Airlines is delayed to the end of the summer. The delay is due to the long search for a contractor to restore the cabins. Kommersant writes about it today.
According to the newspaper, the company expects to receive two airplanes, a 15-year-old Tu-204 and a 14-year-old Tu-214, in the long term leasing from Ilyushin Finance JSC (IFC) in April 2023. These are the first planes of this type, which a year ago it was decided to return to regular passenger services. Now the date has been rescheduled for July 31, which the operator was warned about by IFC. There is no information on further rescheduling of the delivery date, but the participation of the aircraft at the MAKS-2023 air show in the livery of UAC as planned is questionable, according to a source of Kommersant.
After IFC notified Red Wings in January this year that deadlines were being missed due to problems finding a company to rebuild the cabins, the carrier offered its contractor, NPP Foton, to the lessor. But as of April the contractor has not been chosen. In addition, the lease agreement for both liners, which should have been signed back in December 2022, has not yet been concluded.
The IFC does not confirm the difficulties with the restoration of the planes. They say that the interior of both airplanes is being worked on and the Foton Company is engaged in the interior of the Tu-214. According to the representative of the IFC, the scheduled date of acceptance of the work is scheduled for the end of June. Preparation for restoration of airworthiness is also on schedule.
The UAC said that specialists from UZGA Engineering (Yekaterinburg) and KAPO Avia (Kazan) are involved as contractors for airworthiness restoration. “The work is actively going on, based on the possibilities, and all disagreements have been settled,” said the publication’s source in the UAC. According to him, the signing of the lease agreement is scheduled for July, plans to exhibit Tu-214 at MAKS “remain in force.”
Red Wings confirmed that the company planned to put these aircraft into operation at the end of the summer season. Work on the restoration of the planes is going on within the agreed schedules, the airline said, refraining from giving details: “We are waiting for the first two machines in the summer and two more – in 2024.”
