Manufacturers in Ukraine and Russia have bold plans to replace ageing airplanes with modern replacements
Across the former Soviet Union , aircraft used by regional airlines are nearing the end of their expected service lives and are in need of replacement. Manufacturers in Ukraine and Russia have bold plans to offer modern replacements, but production of new regional jet and turboprop aircraft can only swing into high gear if the airlines likely to buy them can find the necessary financing.
In November, Kyiv’s Aviant aircraft plant started production of the Tupolev 334 regional jet, the planned successor to the Soviet‑era Tu‑134 aircraft.
The Russian government estimates that the new jet will serve 80 percent of flights within that country by 2010. But the planes can only be produced fast enough to meet requirements if airlines are able to purchase them.
“About 70 percent of the planes in service on domestic routes both in Russia and Ukraine have reached the end of their expected service lives, which is a little more than 10 years,” said Valery Kuzenkov, who heads Aviant’s Tu‑334 program.
Russia’s State Civil Aviation Service has forecast that by 2005 only 80 of the 240 Tu‑134 aircraft in service now will be airworthy.
Under an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, the aircraft manufacturers will finance initial production of the Tu‑334. But before full‑scale production can begin, the factories must have orders from carriers with cash.
“We launched production of the first plane with our own funds and at our own risk,” Kuzenkov said.
He said that the Tu‑334 prototype produced by Tupolev and Aviant in 1999 has made more than 176 test flights.
Certifying the new aircraft as airworthy could cost as much as $77 million. The Russian government has pledged to cover those expenses, Kuzenkov said.
Under the joint production program, the aircraft’s fuselage and wings will be manufactured in Ukraine, and Russian aerospace firms, including Aviastar, Tavia and RSK MiG will build the remainder.
Final assembly will take place at RSK MiG and at Aviant. By 2008, both plants are scheduled to produce a combined 36 Tu‑334 aircraft a year. About 350 aircraft should be assembled by 2015.
Kuzenkov said that RSK MiG is finishing construction of a new 135,000‑square‑meter assembly building at its plant in Lukhovitsy, outside Moscow.
“When it is completed later this month, the facility will allow RSK MiG to build 20 Tu‑334s a year,” Kuzenkov said.
Tupolev engineers began designing the 102‑seat, twin‑engine aircraft in the early 1990s, but the funds necessary to put the aircraft into production were unavailable.
The aircraft’s Western competitors include the Boeing 717 and Airbus 318.
At about $18 million a copy, the Tu‑334 will cost half as much as similar Boeing or Airbus planes, Kuzenkov said.
He also said that maintenance expenses for the new Tupolev are 25 percent lower than for its competitors.
Carriers in Russia and Ukraine, including Pulkovo, Samara, and Domodedovo Airlines in Russia, and Ukraine’s Krym, Luhansk and Dniproavia carriers, have expressed interest in the aircraft. These carriers presently use Soviet‑built An‑24 aircraft, Kuzenkov said.
Between 1960 and 1980, about 2,500 An‑24 aircraft rolled off Soviet assembly lines. The aircraft was the workhorse of the domestic airline fleet, accounting for 30 percent of all air traffic in the Soviet Union, Kuzenkov said. At its peak in the 1970s, the Aviant plant in Kyiv produced 35 An‑24s a month, Kuzenkov said.
Potential buyers for the new aircraft exist outside the region as well. Iran may enter into a deal to buy 100 of the planes, with some production work being done in Iran.
In May, Tupolev, RSK MiG and Rolls‑Royce Germany signed an agreement to equip Tu‑334s with BR715 engines in the hope of attracting Western customers for the plane, Kuzenkov said.
Kuzenkov said that his plant expects to complete the first jet next year.
According to RSK MiG, the aircraft will meet Western noise and emission standards.
Meanwhile, the Kharkiv Aviation Plant also has its sights set on the Russian market with its An‑140 turboprop.
Yury Bukreev, who heads the plant’s foreign trade department, said that three An‑140s have been built domestically since 1999, and that one aircraft has already been built in Iran, with a second due for completion in December. Bukreev said that Samara’s Aviakor is also assembling the An‑140.
The three An‑140s built in Ukraine have been leased to Aeromost‑Kharkiv and Odessa Airlines.
Bukreev said that on Dec. 3, Aeromost‑Kharkiv made familiarization flights to Moscow and Vienna, Austria for journalists and travel agents. Scheduled flights will begin after Dec. 20, with service two or three times per week, Bukreev said.
The An‑140 carries 52 passengers and has a range of 2,420 kilometers.
Officials at the Kharkiv plant say that they are negotiating with Russia’s Volga‑Dnepr cargo airline, which is interested in launching domestic passenger operations with six An‑140s. Andry Sovenko, a spokesperson for Kyiv’s Antonov Design Bureau, said that other carriers have expressed interest in acquiring the An‑140 as well.
“However, even at $8.4 million, airlines can’t afford the aircraft,” Sovenko said.
Though the Kharkiv plant can produce 15 An‑140s over the next four years, the Russian market needs 100 aircraft.
Sovenko said that his firm is also developing a new An‑148 plane and should have a prototype ready by the end of 2003.
Sovenko said that Antonov had entered the An‑148 in a Russian Aviation and Space Agency tender for development of a regional jet. Other bidders in the tender, which will be announced in early 2003, include Tupolev, Myasishchev and Sukhoi, in conjunction with Ilyushin, Yakovlev and Boeing.
