Russia extends Tu-214, Il-96, An-124 airworthiness program to 2027

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has extended its program to restore the airworthiness of Tu-204/214, Il-96, and An-124 aircraft from 2024 to 2027, according to Russian media reports.

The updated schedule addresses delays in aircraft delivery, ongoing modernization requirements, and production capacity constraints. The program remains central to supporting the domestic aviation market and future aircraft production in Russia.

Originally approved on October 3, 2022, the initiative aimed to return at least 12 aircraft to service by 2024. It targets Tu-204/214, Il-96-400, and An-124-100 units lacking valid airworthiness certificates.

An additional allocation of 15.4 billion rubles (approximately $200 million) was proposed in 2022 to support the restoration and modernization of 11 aircraft. The project involves extensive maintenance, including component replacement and the substitution of imported parts with domestic equivalents.

Red Wings, Volga-Dnepr, and Aviastar-Tu are designated as the primary operators for these restored assets. Government funding is organized through two subsidy packages: 6.9 billion rubles for at least seven aircraft and 15.4 billion rubles for 11 aircraft.

Following the military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia had its access to Western aircraft and components embargoed, affecting its commercial fleet.

One of the paths pursued by the government is to recover obsolete Russian aircraft and also reactivate the assembly line for models such as the Tu-214.

However, these measures are of an emergency nature, since the focus of the state-owned Rostec has been on putting into mass production the 100-seat SJ-100 and the MC-21-310, two new airliners with substitute content from local equipment.

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