Russia will accelerate the development of new domestic civil aircraft to start replacing Boeing and Airbus planes in airline fleets. On July 15, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, at a strategic session on aviation industry development, instructed officials to complete R&D work on all aircraft projects and to support the establishment of production facilities. According to experts cited by news source URA, Russia has only two to three years left before Western aircraft begin to reach the end of their service lives, forcing airlines to factor expensive repairs into ticket prices.
In the context of sanctions, creating a full range of domestic aircraft is essential for the reliable development of regional connectivity. New Russian aircraft are also needed to achieve the strategic goal of increasing passenger mobility by one and a half times by 2030, Mishustin noted.
Russia’s independence in civil aviation is the aim of the federal project “Production of Aircraft and Helicopters,” which is part of the national project “Industrial Support for Transport Mobility.” The government plans to allocate 765 billion rubles from the budget over six years for its implementation, said the Prime Minister.
“First and foremost, for the creation of aircraft, competitive engines, radio-electronic equipment, and various technical systems. And for the entire range of high-tech equipment. We’re talking about developing truly unique products that currently have no Russian equivalents, the production of which must be mastered,” the head of government clarified.
Mishustin identified key challenges that the Russian aviation industry needs to overcome. Chief among them, he said, is completing R&D work for all ongoing programs successfully.
“There are already preliminary results. In particular, yesterday the onboard radio-electronic equipment was successfully tested during flight trials of our flagship MS-21. For the first time, a flying testbed based on the Yak-40 took to the skies with the VK-800 engine, which will be installed on aircraft for local routes — the ‘Baikal’ and the joint Russian-Belarusian aircraft ‘Osvey,’” said the Prime Minister.
Completion of certification of the updated Superjet-100 with the PD-8 engine is expected, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, no later than December of this year, Mishustin added. Recently, such an aircraft flew from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Zhukovsky. Also, the Prime Minister noted that production of the Il-114-300, showcased last week at the “Innoprom” exhibition in Yekaterinburg, should begin by the end of the year.
Mishustin stressed that specific deadlines need to be established for each type of aircraft, including the locally made versions of the Tu-214 and Il-96-300, as well as the Ladoga, Osvey, and future helicopters like the Mi-34, Ansat, Ka-62, Mi-38, and Mi-171.
“Another, no less serious, task is implementing investment projects to expand production capacities across all cooperating enterprises, considering the high cost of credit resources today. To provide systemic support for building and modernizing factory facilities, the government approved a detailed program for developing the aviation industry until 2030 three years ago.
Given the new challenges, it needs to be revised. It’s necessary to update aircraft delivery schedules year by year, based on the current situation,” the Prime Minister concluded.
Recently, the authorities have stepped up work on new domestic aircraft. News of progress on aircraft projects has been emerging one after another. And the circumstance is no coincidence, believes Viktor Gorbachev, General Director of the Civil Aviation Association “Airport.”
“In another two or three years, we’ll be facing a situation where there will be nothing left to fly. The fleet’s main aircraft, Boeings and Airbuses, are nearing the end of their service lives. Already, parts are being removed from one aircraft to be installed on another where they’re more urgently needed. We’re under sanctions, and spare parts are supplied through complicated schemes, via third or fourth countries, with huge markups.
As a result, repairs will become increasingly expensive, and ticket prices will soar. Of course, we’ll still fly, but the number of passengers will decline,” the expert said.
Timelines and the scale of the program have to be revised because restoring the manufacturing chains lost after the collapse of the USSR is an extremely difficult task, Gorbachev added. To produce several hundred aircraft, twice as many engines are needed. This means appropriate production capacities must be developed.
The government is making maximum efforts to revive the aviation industry, says Mikhail Blinkin, head of the Faculty of Urban and Regional Development at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the Higher School of Economics. The very fact that the Prime Minister is personally involved shows how complex the issue is, Blinkin told URA.
“Mishustin doesn’t hold strategic sessions on railcars and locomotives. Because their production is established—factories produce subway cars, trams, and commuter trains. But aviation is lagging significantly behind, and it requires not just production but the entire R&D cycle. Such work involves materials, avionics, and much more—everything is being recreated from scratch.
And there’s very little time left — problems with Boeing and Airbus are becoming systemic. The year 2030, as stated in the program, is already too late; in some areas, there’s only a year or two left,” Blinkin said.
There are now more statements about new aircraft because the first tangible results are starting to appear, believes independent transport expert Dmitry Adamidov. And the timelines currently being mentioned sound more realistic. Going forward, everything will depend on the production programs adopted and how they are executed.
“Nobody’s talking about a complete replacement of Boeing and Airbus — they will continue to be operated. But alongside them, domestic aircraft should start appearing. The important thing is that the aviation industry actually works with practical results and doesn’t lapse back into hibernation, producing only flashy presentations and embezzlement schemes,” Adamidov added.
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