The largest Russian airline “Aeroflot” will start operating obsolete Tu-214 aircraft of local production under the influence of Western sanctions.
Currently, the airline’s fleet includes 183 airliners, of which only five are Russian-made. All other aircraft are manufactured by the American company Boeing and the European Airbus.
Aeroflot General Director Serhiy Aleksandrovsky stated in the Kremlin at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that the airline will order 40 Tu-214s.
These aircraft began to be produced in 1996. They were operated by three airlines – Dalavia, Krasnoyarsk Airlines, and Transaero. All three airlines went bankrupt and stopped flying.
While Western aircraft have been operated by two pilots since the 1980s, the Tu-214 crew still consists of three people. In addition, the cost of operating the aircraft is increased by less efficient engines compared to Western counterparts and the lack of mass production. Because of this, in the event of a breakdown, the plane has to be idle for longer, since there is no mass distribution of spare parts for the Tu-214 at airports.
In addition, Aeroflot wants to order more modern Russian aircraft: 73 Sukhoi Superjet 100 and 210 MS-21 after carrying out the procedure for replacing imported components.
Aeroflot, like other major Russian airlines, before the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, bet on the development of the fleet with the help of Western-made aircraft.
Sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union prohibit the supply of new Western aircraft to Russia, as well as spare parts for them. Therefore, the number of Boeing and Airbus flying in Russia will gradually decrease. Russian airlines are already forced to dismantle some planes in order to extend the flights of others. This process is called cannibalization.