In the summer of 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to allocate 15.4 billion rubles to restore the airworthiness of three cargo and eight passenger aircraft for Red Wings, Volga-Dnepr and Aviastar-Tu airlines. At issue was one An-124, two Il-96-400Ts and eight Tu-204/214s.
At that time, none of these aircraft had an airworthiness certificate and were not in operation. All of them required work related to the repair of the main units: engines, aircraft landing gear and landing gear, as well as the purchase of new components, the repair of which was impossible due to resource limitations.
A year later, Sergei Turkin, former head of the Ilyushin Finance Co (IFC) leasing company, spoke in an interview with Kommersant about the current state of affairs on aircraft restoration.
He specified that it is planned to restore a total of three Tu-204-300 aircraft, with one already restored in 2022, two Tu-204-100 aircraft, three Tu-214 aircraft, two Il-96-400T aircraft and one An-124-100.
“All these eleven aircraft belong to the IFC. Another Tu-204 aircraft, which is also to be restored, belongs to UAC. When this project was initiated, the basic idea was that with the help of these aircraft we will be able to revitalise industry enterprises. It is obvious that the enterprises supplying PKI [purchased components – Aviation of Russia note] for Tu-204/214 and Il-96-400T aircraft, which are practically the same enterprises, need to gradually increase their production capacity. And our order would help them to build up their strength smoothly and approach serial deliveries for Tu-214, Il-96 and import-substituted MS-21 and SSJ in full armour. Plus, it is definitely faster to restore an aircraft than to build a new one from scratch,” says Sergey Turkin.
According to the plan, all the work should be completed within 2023-2024. If there are no delays in the supply of components, it is quite realistic to deliver the aircraft within this timeframe, he said.
The main stages of aircraft airworthiness restoration are the development and implementation of a special developer’s programme, purchase or repair of PKI, and engagement of a specialised MRO organisation certified under FAP-285. In the case of the above-mentioned aircraft, airworthiness restoration involved the enterprises of the aviation industry of Voronezh, Ulyanovsk and Kazan.
“Regarding the purchase or repair of PKI, I solved this issue on my own by negotiating with the heads of PKI supplier companies. Unfortunately, I have not seen at the UAC level any consolidated schedule for all PKI, except for PS-90A engines, which would provide for prioritisation for suppliers. Although it seems to me that such a schedule would help not only UAC enterprises, aircraft manufacturers and IFCs producing final products, but also the suppliers themselves. But I am sure that in the near future such a schedule can be formed at the UAC level at least for the needs of the civil sector and communicated to suppliers,” said the ex-head of the IFC.
Some of the Tu-204 aircraft to be restored were planned to be leased to Red Wings airline, a subsidiary of IFC, and some of the aircraft were planned to be sold. In 2021, IFC offered Tu-204/214s to carriers at a price starting from RUB 1.5bn, which was considered overpriced at the time. In 2022, airlines called even higher cost of aircraft – about 2.5 billion rubles. Sergey Turkin explained that the price had increased due to the rise in the cost of components. “But due to the growing demand against the background of the lack of Western aircraft, I think that each aircraft will find its buyer. Besides, the final price will depend on the equipment of the machine,” he added.
On 6 July 2023, Red Wings CEO Evgeny Solodilin told VGTRK’s Rossiya 24 channel about the imminent completion of a deal to buy one of the cargo airlines. According to the Izvestia newspaper, the deal could be with Sky Gates, which will take over two Il-96-400T freighters previously assigned to AirBridgeCargo Airlines, part of Volga-Dnepr Group. The aircraft were painted in ABC livery and the carrier planned to start flights on the first of the aircraft to China in June.
According to Sergey Turkin, these Il-96 freighters have low flight hours, are in satisfactory condition, and require a certain amount of work. “As far as I know, the main difficulties are related to the purchase of missing PKIs, but there is nothing critical here,” he explained.
