United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), the Russian aircraft manufacturer, has just launched an urgent program to manufacture 20 new Tupolev 214 planes to replace the leased Airbus and Boeing, which it can no longer fly abroad on fears being seized for debt (Russia admits the severity of its aviation crisis).
The news was brought into the mouth of Yuri Slyusar, the general director of the aircraft manufacturer, by the Tass agency. Starting this program is not everything. The same company has agreed to accelerate production of two other traditional Russian aircraft, the Ilyushin 96 and Ilyushin 76. The former is a long-radius widebody aircraft, while the latter is a four-turbofan engine multirole aircraft.
The measure comes in line with a message from the government to the country, which notes that there will be problems with aviation in the immediate future due to a shortage of equipment, but that Russia has the ability to address them by accelerating the to solve production of units that it has in terms of technology and knowledge.
Russia has retained around 400 Boeing and Airbus planes it leased. These planes allow you to fly within the country where there is no risk of embargo, but not out of it. And inside the country, it can operate only until there is a need for spare parts, which none of the manufacturers want to supply (Russia resumes flights with Israel and 51 other countries).
About ten of the new Tupolev 214 aircraft are to be produced per year at the Kazan plant. Now Andrei Yelchaninov, a military aviation official, said the country could open another production line in Tatarstan’s capital Kazan to avoid a shortage of aircraft parts.