Officials confirmed that deliveries of the Tupolev Tu-214 will begin next year, and Aeroflot is preparing a group of pilots to receive them. Ildar Shakirov, Deputy Head of the Executive Committee of the Kazan plant -where the model is produced- shared these plans during a business meeting. The executive noted that by 2025 production should reach 10 units per year.
“Commercial deliveries to airlines are scheduled to start in 2023, and the first machines are already in production. At the same time, the company is already implementing measures to increase aircraft production to 10 units per year by 2025,” Shakirov noted. According to the executive, the pressure of Western sanctions and the withdrawal of foreign companies from Russia served as an incentive for the development of domestic products.
Aeroflot prepares to receive its first batch of Tu-214 aircraft
Aeroflot, Russia’s flag carrier and largest airline, announced the creation of a “working group” dedicated to studying the preparation and commercial operation of the Tu-214. As Sibkay reports, the company’s operations department has already informed pilots that it has at its disposal all the necessary technical flight documentation, which was sent from the manufacturer.
Related content: Il-86 and TU-214 back in service?
However, so far Aeroflot has only signed a letter of intent with United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) for the purchase of forty Tu-214s, with deliveries until 2030. Under the agreement, the airline should take delivery of the first seven aircraft in 2024.
UAC plans to have around 70 aircraft built by 2030. It also plans to increase production of Il-96 and Il-76 transport jets, both aircraft whose design dates back to the Soviet era. For its part, the Tu-214 is a more recent design, dating back to the early 1990s.
