Since the start of production of SSJ100 regional jets in 2011, more than 230 aircraft of this type have been produced. The machine has proved its reliability and economic efficiency. And after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the load on the SuperJets has grown significantly.
Today, the SSJ100 flight intensity is close to that of Airbus and Boeing aircrafts. For example, at present, the average flight time of Superjets at Red Wings Airlines is about 400 hours per month, and for individual vessels it reaches 450 hours, which means that they are in the air almost 15 hours a day, Rostec’s press service said.
In the summer of 2022, Kommersant reported that the daily flight hours of SSJ100 aircraft in 2022 increased by almost a third, with airlines with aircraft of this type in their fleets flying an average of eight to nine hours a day. According to the publication, more than a year ago this was already close to the performance of Western medium-haul aircraft. Russia Airlines stands out in these statistics – its Superjets flew an average of only 3.8 hours a day. This figure has remained unchanged since 2018, the publication noted.
In April 2019, the Vedomosti newspaper, citing sources in Rosaviatsia, reported that “the SSJ100 is still seriously inferior to foreign vessels. The most popular models – the mid-range Airbus 320 and Boeing 737-800 flew an average of 10 and 11 hours per day respectively. The closest regional imported aircraft in terms of capacity to the 98-seat SSJ100 also spent more time in the air. S7 Airlines has 17 Embraer E-170 aircraft with 78 seats in its fleet. It flew an average of six hours a day. Pegas Fly has six Embraer E-190s with 110 seats. These aircraft flew 10 hours a day.”
In the article “How Boeing or Airbus are better than Superjet”, we have already analysed such estimates by Vedomosti and provided data on the average daily flight hours of Russian regional jets at Azimut Airlines. In the first five months of 2019, Azimut’s SSJ100s had an average monthly flight time of 227 hours and daily flight time of 7.5 hours. At the same time, three aircraft took turns undergoing scheduled maintenance, and the carrier had a total of 13 SSJ100 aircraft in its fleet.
Selective statistics of flights in December 2021 by airlines, obtained from the FR24 service, showed that Azimut and IrAero achieved maximum performance, with Superjets flying 7.5-10 hours and 9.5-10.5 hours respectively. Red Wings – 6-7.5 hours, Yamal – 5.5-6.5 hours, Severstal – 5.5-6 hours. Aeroflot and Rossiya had the lowest flight hours by tradition: 4.5-5 hours and 4.5-7 hours respectively. And in the summer of 2023, Red Wings’ SSJ100 flight hours reached almost 15 hours.
In this regard, the editorial staff of the Russian Aviation website has always been of the opinion that it is incorrect to compare aeroplanes of different classes with significantly different passenger capacity and range. We still think so, but the following is noteworthy. In 2017, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that Pobeda, a low-cost airline, had become the world leader in terms of average flight hours on Boeing 737 aircraft. It was then 15-16 hours per day per aircraft. These data were confirmed by the Boeing Corporation.
But in 2021, Pobeda proudly announced on its website that in March of that year it had confirmed “the status of the world champion in terms of average daily flight time on Boeing 737-800 aircraft”. The figure was about 12 hours of flight time, i.e., compared to the 2017 data, the flight time decreased by 3-4 hours per day.
The above statistics show that the negativity that was poured on the Russian aircraft was opportunistic – we tend to curse our own and praise imports. But there is one point that needs to be considered – the “crying” that in favour of the Superjet, an aircraft that was certified and ready for serial production when the SSJ100 was not even in the blueprints was ruined. That’s the Tu-334.
Let’s imagine hypothetically that there is no Superjet and this Tupolev machine with Ukrainian engines was mass-produced. What situation would passenger transport in such a huge country as Russia be in now? Taking into account that after 2014 Ukraine completely severed all economic ties with the Russian Federation, including in the field of aircraft construction, in the mid-2010s or a little earlier, one way or another a new aircraft would have to be designed. And now PJSC Yakovlev, represented by the Regional Aircraft branch, is going the way of upgrading the existing machine, which is much easier and faster than developing a new one.
