S7 Airlines has a fleet of 17 Embraer E170 Brazilian regional jets, manufactured in 2004-2005. Their passenger capacity is 78 seats, flying range is 3,800 kilometres. The carrier obtained the E170s under an operating lease from GE Capital Aviation Services Limited (GECAS) in 2017-2018 for a period of seven years. Decommissioning of the machines was planned for 2023-2024.
However, S7’s plans have now changed and the E170 will continue to fly on the airline’s route network. This was announced by Dmitry Kudelkin, CEO of S7 Group.
“We will continue to operate the E170. They are flying efficiently at the moment,” he was quoted as saying by RBC. The head of the carrier does not give an exact prediction on how long S7 will fly the Brazilian planes, but the company looks positively on the operation of the Embraer in the coming years.
It was previously reported that due to the possibility of state subsidies and the closure of the European market, S7 Airlines reduced the number of routes from Moscow and increased the number from Novosibirsk, focusing on flights between the regions of Russia. Almost all E170s now fly from Novosibirsk, where S7’s regional flight programme is “seriously developing”.
In 2018, S7 entered into an agreement of intent to purchase 75 Superjet aircraft in a shortened version with 75 seats. The decision was attributed by the airline’s then CEO Vladimir Obedkov to the discontinuation of the Embraer E170.
“We have entered this segment of regional transportation, started to work in it on the Embraer E170. Embraer is a good plane, but they do not make it anymore, there is no similar machine, and the second generation of these planes is too heavy. That is why we ask our aviation industry to make us a similar machine,” Obyedkov said at the time.
However, in the autumn of 2019, Vladislav Filyov revealed that the authorities had abandoned the SSJ75 project, so no firm contract had been signed. “We started operating 17 Embraer E170 jets with 78 seats in 2017 and deliberately limited their leasing period to start replacing them at a time when we were promised to start delivering locally made machines,” Filyov claimed.
In March 2022 bans were imposed on deliveries of components, materials and new aircraft to Russia. At the same time, Embraer said it would stop selling spare parts to Russia and servicing its planes. Therefore, in the face of sanctions, the decision to continue to fly the E170 is rather forced, and the change of plans is due to the fact that on low-capacity inter-regional flights to put more spacious aircraft in terms of economy is not feasible.
