Russian Civil Aviation: News #4

The transition to the Russian system for booking air tickets will be "seamless"
04/04/2022

The joint venture between Rostec and Sirena-Travel, RT-Transcom, is ready to ensure the transfer of Russian airlines to the domestic ticket booking system, the press service of Rostec reported.

“The work is being carried out within the framework of the instructions of the state and is designed to protect the industry from possible incidents and failures in foreign booking systems used today by Russian airlines. At the moment, tests of the system have been carried out with the participation of the largest carriers in order to work out the necessary organizational and technological measures and train airline personnel,” the state-owned company said.

The domestic reservation system was created in two versions - mainly for the gradual planned transition of airlines, and a backup one - for emergency connection and ensuring the stable operation of the industry in case of excesses. The redundant system is ready for emergency transition mode in a short time (up to 24 hours). At the same time, all services for the sale, e-commerce, servicing and check-in of passengers at airports will be available seamlessly.

“The transition of airlines to domestic software is designed to ensure a sufficient level of stability of booking systems and data protection. This has been discussed for several years, but only now many market participants are beginning to understand the seriousness of the problem. Using foreign systems is unsafe. This can lead to leaks of sensitive information, failures and collapse of the passenger air transportation industry,” commented Alexander Nazarov, Deputy General Director of Rostec State Corporation.

To date, the domestic reservation system has already been implemented in more than 50 airlines with a traffic volume of over 40 million passengers per year, including Red Wings, Aurora, Rusline, Yamal, UTair, Alrosa, and others.

The system is finalized for each airline, taking into account the IT landscape and individual requirements without involving budgetary funds and / or airline funds. As a result, carriers receive a competitive service based on a domestic solution, with a parallel reduction in the volume of current costs for maintaining the booking system, since the tariffs of the domestic system are lower than imported analogues.

https://aviation21.ru/perexod-na-rossijskuyu-sistemu-bronirovaniya-aviabiletov-projdyot-besshovno/

very impressive pseudo-logic Garry
but it comes down to people in the end .... and they are only human

no matter how much you play with your spreadsheets
in the end .... humans have to do the work

and you can over-clock them for 12 months .... 18 months ..... tough bastards 24 months
then your spreadsheet logic isn't worth the screen you are looking at ....

I lived in the real world .... not spreadsheets and pseudo-logic ....
your comments betray your true lack of experience ....

https://tass.ru/ekonomika/14294987
UAC has put into production 20 Tu-214, says the Head of the UAC Slyusar.

Let me remind you that so far the Tu-204/214 has produced 86 units until today.

Good news.
A sensible decision to do this, as production ramp up to worthwhile numbers of a fully Russian Mc-21 is still a couple of years away.

wilhelm wrote:Good news.
A sensible decision to do this, as production ramp up to worthwhile numbers of a fully Russian Mc-21 is still a couple of years away.

Also it helps getting work for those two plants (Kazan for the Tu-214 and VASO (Voronezh) for the Il96) and they will be forced to employ and train additional people and ideally to invest more on the plants themselves.

20 tu214 in how many years? 5 aircraft per year?

In addition there should be a few tu 204parked in Russia (I believe 9  of them at Red Wings airline) and at least 7 available in the fleet of Rossiya (3 tu204-300 and 4 Tu214. (they also have another 9 tu214 but in special modification for the presidential administration or the government).
That means that up to 16 tu204/214 could be already used for passenger transportation in the next few months (after maintenance checks or course).

Also there are 5 Tu-204-120  stored in Egypt, former property of Cairo aviation. They are a modification of the Tu 204-100/200 , equipped with Western avionics and British engines Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 (2 × 19500 kgf)). 4 of them should be in decent condition. If Russia could acquire them they could be overhauled and retrofitted with russian engines and avionics. (Of course at a different aircraft plant than those already involved with the restarted production).


By the way, Wikipedia says that in 2013 VASO had about 5800 employees. Does anyone know the situation now?

Russia is preparing to fly only on domestic aircraft, by Olga Samofalova for VZGLYAD, 07.04.2022.

Russia has named the planes on which the Russians will fly after the resource of foreign Boeings and Airbuses is exhausted. In addition to the Sukhoi Superjet-100, these will be long-haul Tu-214 and Il-96. Why were these particular aircraft chosen, will Russia be able to produce them, and why have they been of no interest to Russian airlines so far?

The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) will produce 20 Tu-214 passenger aircraft and will increase the pace of production of long-haul Il-96 and military transport Il-76. This was told by the head of the KLA Yuri Slyusar.

Interest in the urgent resumption of mass production of passenger Tu-214 and Il-96 appeared due to Western sanctions. The EU banned the leasing and supply of aircraft and engines to Russia and demanded the return of even those aircraft that are now operated by Russian airlines and pay lease payments. The owners of such machines are foreign lessors. The EU has also banned insurance for Russian aircraft. Boeing and Airbus stopped servicing aircraft of Russian airlines and banned the supply of spare parts to them.

According to the Ministry of Transport, foreign lessors demanded that Russian companies return 500 aircraft with a residual value of $20 billion. Russia did not begin to return foreign cars, especially since this is technically impossible to do because of the mutual closure of the sky between the EU and Russia. However, Russian airlines have faced arrests of foreign aircraft at foreign airports at the request of European lessors. According to the Ministry of Transport, Russia "lost" 78 aircraft in this way.

Moscow is gradually solving the problems that have arisen. Firstly, foreign cars began to be re-registered in the Russian register. Secondly, the government allowed airlines to pay lessors in rubles, because without flights abroad and the absence of foreign exchange earnings, it is difficult to make payments in another currency.

Foreign planes now fly mainly on domestic routes. 148 domestic Sukhoi Superjet-100s plus another 45 foreign aircraft, which are the property of Russian airlines and are registered with Rosreestr, were “thrown” on international flights. In total, a fleet of 193 aircraft was formed for flights abroad. From April 9, Russia will resume flights with 52 friendly countries. In particular, restrictions on charter flights introduced earlier due to the spread of coronavirus to Venezuela, Hong Kong, Kenya, Ethiopia and a number of other states will be lifted.

How long Russia can use the rest of the foreign aircraft on lease, even on domestic flights, is not entirely clear. It depends on whether the airlines find all the necessary spare parts for aircraft repairs.

In any case, Russia is clearly preparing for the fact that soon Russian airlines will need a fleet consisting not of Boeings and Airbuses, but of domestically produced aircraft.

If we have a regional machine - SSJ-100 - we have not yet managed to launch a domestic replacement for long-haul Boeings and Airbuses - the MS-21 aircraft. This aircraft promises to outperform foreign competitors in terms of performance and comfort. But it can only be put into production in 2024, according to official statements. And this is provided that the manufacturer manages to import all that is necessary. Although the MS-21 was originally created with a minimum share of imports, unlike, for example, the SSJ-100.

Under such conditions, Russia has no other choice but to turn its attention to technically obsolete domestic liners with the PS-90A engine - the long-haul narrow-body Tu-214 and the wide-body Il-96, designed back in the 1980s.

It is curious that in 2014 the Il-96 was finally withdrawn from the Aeroflot fleet, but in 2022-2023, most likely, it will become desirable for many Russian carriers.

Why did Russia abandon domestic liners in favor of foreign cars? It's all about economic feasibility.

“Earlier, our aircraft competed with foreign cars that had slightly better flight performance and a more attractive price, as they came to us from the secondary market. However, now the situation is radically different. Aircraft of domestic origin have no alternative if we are talking about flights not “today”, but “tomorrow”. Therefore, any shortcomings that affect the economy, but do not affect flight safety, can be forgiven for them," says the head of "Airport" Oleg Panteleev.

The expert compares Tu-214 and MS-21. “The Tu-214 is 30 tons heavier, has worse aerodynamics, a cabin with three rather than two crew members, and a lower degree of automation of routine crew procedures. It is less comfortable for passengers and has a higher cost per flight hour and is generally more expensive to operate than the MS-21. But the main advantage of the Tu-214 today is that the first aircraft may appear with the airlines earlier than the fully imported MS-21, and it can fly from Moscow to Khabarovsk,” says Panteleev.

The Russian aircraft industry cannot boast of producing 300-600 aircraft per year, like Boeing or Airbus. The number of aircraft produced in Russia against this background is simply lost. In 2019, Russian factories produced six aircraft, in 2020 - 12, and in 2021 (for nine months) - 14 SSJ-100 aircraft.

“However, in previous years, the production of Tu-214 and Il-96 was limited to a greater extent by demand than by production capabilities along the entire chain from component manufacturers to final assembly and testing,” says the aviation expert. Airlines were not interested in these aircraft, which were losing economic competition with foreign cars.

Although there is a precedent when the Ilyushin Finance leasing company ordered the production of the Tu-204 in the interests of the Red Wings airline. In 2007-2008, we managed to reach the production of one aircraft per month, or 10-12 aircraft per year.

“This, of course, is also not too much against the background of the capabilities of our foreign competitors, but it speaks of the possibility of reaching the same production rates as the Tu-214 in Kazan. The components of the Tu-204 and Tu-214 are overwhelmingly identical. Cooperation should allow reaching the required production volumes. Although we cannot now assess the state of all suppliers of components along the entire chain. We hope that they have not lost their competence, but only increased it,” says Oleg Panteleev.

As for the Il-96, the state took over it long before February 2022 - even after the first Western sanctions in 2014-2015.

Back in 2017, the Cabinet of Ministers allocated more than 53 billion rubles for the construction of one prototype vehicle in an updated form with modern on-board and navigation equipment. The customers included the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The issue is handled by the Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Building Company (VASO). Apparently, the IL-96 was a safety option in case the West refused to supply us with its equipment, and now Russia intends to use it. In July 2021, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that the production of the new Il-96 was completed, and three more machines were in production in Voronezh. According to him, VASO is provided with orders for 10 years in advance in the interests of the special flight squad "Russia".

“VASO's capabilities are enough to make more than two aircraft a year. There are no critical bottlenecks in the IL-96 program. I think that within two or three years it will be possible to increase the production of liners up to four per year. It will be necessary to hire an additional number of production workers,” Panteleev said.

He points out that in order to build a large number of aircraft, it is necessary to conclude contracts for metal, engines, airborne equipment, the production cycle of which also takes time. In the past, the aircraft production cycle from ordering materials to handing over to customers required 12-14 months, perhaps the process can be accelerated. But the planes that were put into production this year are likely to enter service no earlier than 2023. It is possible that three Il-96s, which were already being produced at VASO in July 2021, will be ready for operation in the sky earlier.

Both Tu-214 and Il-96 can be used by Russian airlines both on domestic and international routes.

“So far we have enough foreign aircraft to fly domestically. But if the resources of foreign cars are exhausted to serve domestic routes, then most likely the main purpose of the Tu-214 and Il-96 will be to replace foreign cars on domestic lines and to ensure the connectivity of Russian regions, ” says Panteleev.

As for the Il-76, it is a heavy military transport aircraft, which is produced in Ulyanovsk at Aviastar. A special production line was created for its serial production, which speeds up the assembly of aircraft. The first aircraft on this line has already been assembled. Its capacity is designed to produce up to 18 aircraft per year. Last year, the task was to bring the collection to 10 aircraft per year.

“The main investments in the expansion of production were made earlier. Nothing prevents Aviastar from producing more aircraft in terms of the plant’s capabilities,” the source concludes.

https://vz.ru/economy/2022/4/7/1152453.html

Update on the tender for SSJ-New. It seems they intend to be done with development and testing (I don't think they include the certification tests) in November of 2023.

https://aviation21.ru/podvedeny-itogi-tendera-po-programme-ispytanij-samolyota-ssj-new/

UAC launched production of 20 Tu-214 aircraft

Tu-214 aircraft will replace foreign Boeing and Airbus

MOSCOW, 6 April. /TASS/. The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has launched the production of 20 Tu-214 long-haul narrow-body aircraft, which are to replace foreign Boeing and Airbus. This was announced to TASS by the head of the corporation, Yuri Slyusar, on the sidelines of the Goszakaz forum-exhibition.

"In the near future we should increase (serialization - TASS note). We have already put into production 20 Tu-214 aircraft," he said.

As an official representative of the UAC specified to TASS, this is a production program for the production of Tu-214 for the next few years.

UAC plans to increase the production of long-range Il-96 aircraft due to interest from companies and increase the production of Il-76 transport aircraft, Slyusar said.

"[We now have] the shortest possible timeframe [to increase production]. We now need to increase the serial production of Tu-214, Il-96 and Il-76 aircraft," Slyusar added.

https://tass.ru/ekonomika/14294987

The usual "journalist" spin BS about the Tu-214 being some sort of horrible aircraft.  

1) Its aisle space is the norm and the MS-21 is not the minimum stanadard

2) Its wings have normal characteristics.   The USSR/Russia has always led the way with thin airfoil designs but some
journo c*nt is revising history.

I think journalists need to be certified like doctors.   Various hacks should not be licensed to work in this field.

kvs wrote:The usual "journalist" spin BS about the Tu-214 being some sort of horrible aircraft.  

1) Its aisle space is the norm and the MS-21 is not the minimum stanadard

2) Its wings have normal characteristics.   The USSR/Russia has always led the way with thin airfoil designs but some
journo c*nt is revising history.

I think journalists need to be certified like doctors.   Various hacks should not be licensed to work in this field.

Tu-204SM had already crew of 2 pilots. Me thinks that they expedite of updating avionics + add new engines and there is no worse airplane than A321/Boeing 757. Why this "expert" keeps whining? He prefers 1 Feldern Maus to 100 Is-2?


Zis-5 was good enough to drive Red Army to Berlin in 45

The Open Skies Tu-214. Those wings are hardly "inefficient". Their only "minus" is that they are not made out of composite materials.
When a journalist writes an article, by default it should be treated as a retard smearing shit on paper. Guilty until proven innocent and
never the other way around.

Kiko wrote:Russia is preparing to fly only on domestic aircraft, by Olga Samofalova for VZGLYAD, 07.04.2022.

...The Russian aircraft industry cannot boast of producing 300-600 aircraft per year, like Boeing or Airbus. The number of aircraft produced in Russia against this background is simply lost. In 2019, Russian factories produced six aircraft, in 2020 - 12, and in 2021 (for nine months) - 14 SSJ-100 aircraft...

is this "expert" comparing the production of ONE model of aircraft in Russia with the total production in the USA or Europe? If there is an urgent need in Russia, it is possible to produce up to 70-80 passenger aircraft. The main problem and bottleneck is the production of sufficient quantities of engines and avionics.

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

kvs wrote:The usual "journalist" spin BS about the Tu-214 being some sort of horrible aircraft.  

1) Its aisle space is the norm and the MS-21 is not the minimum stanadard

2) Its wings have normal characteristics.   The USSR/Russia has always led the way with thin airfoil designs but some
journo c*nt is revising history.

I think journalists need to be certified like doctors.   Various hacks should not be licensed to work in this field.

Tu-204SM had already crew of 2 pilots. Me thinks that they expedite of  updating avionics + add new engines and there is no worse airplane than A321/Boeing 757. Why this "expert"  keeps whining? He prefers 1 Feldern Maus to 100 Is-2?


Zis-5 was good enough to drive Red Army to Berlin  in 45

Exactly, furthermore they cannot compare its weight to the  smaller Boeing 737-800 (length 36.8 meters) or airbus A320 (length 37.4 meters).
The Tu214 (length 46 meters) is in similar size to the Boeing 757-200 (47 meters) and a bit bigger than the Airbus A321 (44 m) Probably it offers a bit less max passengers in one class configuration than the a 321 because the internal cabin space is less optimized, e.g. less packed, but in case of necessity it is quite easy to change the cabin configuration.

Yes it is heavier than aircrafts built with more composite percentage (about 20% heavier then the airbus a321)
(Max takeoff weight is 111tons Vs the 93 tons of the a321) (while the 757-200 is has a 114 tons MTOW). But possibly a metal aircraft could be advantageous for artic operations. Also metal aircrafts are much easier to repair, so they could be more apt for rugged environment, such as in some African countries.

Concerning cabin width, yes it is smaller than the one of the MC-21 and A320 but  practically the same (actually 1 cm wider) than the Boeing 737 and 757 cabin.

And finally, yes as I said before the Tu-204SM solved most of the issues with old avionics and presence of flight engineer, but unfortunately with use of Western components. It could be worth to do later a retrofit with modern avionics (e.g. similar to those for the mc21) and additional upgrades but for the moment it would be probably better to produce aircrafts to the existing standard, to avoid having to wait additional time for component availability and recertification.

The retrofit could be probably done later, if needed, including also new PD16 engines.

For the moment having an additional flight engineer in the crew would not be a big problem.

A good compromise could be to start with the recertification process for the new avionics and components while they start producing maybe the first dozen aircrafts to the existing standard.

The MS-21 will certainly not be completely converted to Russian before 2025/2026. This is not an option currently. An MS-21-400 should re designed. Counterpart to the A321XLR. Range 9000km with PD-14 block II or PD-18 gearbox.

Only SSJRU95 are currently possible with PD-8 from about 2024. Until then, the existing aircraft park.
Here the production rate one should be per month from 2025.

This is the TU-214 in production, but about 1 to 3. However, in individual construction and not on a production line. You would certainly be 9 to 12 per year optional.

It has fly-by-wire, 2 man cockpit and is more modern like a 757. Only the PS90A engines remained in the development in 1993. These are extremely reliable, see Gasprom and deliver very good thrust. The consumption is at 757 levels. So 25% more than one A321LR consumed. But is currently subordinated.

The factor is the range of about 7000 km. Very good for Russia suitable and others.

I go so far that a revision of TU-214 is faster than a MS-21-400 russia version.

2022 = PS-90A-76 / PS-90A2 with 160KN thrust and all Russian parts. Especially the lower maintenance and ETOPS 180 is the key.

2025 = PD-14 with 160KN / PD-18 with 180KN thrust

2028 = possibly also a composite wing like MS-21.
Sobags a Russian Neo version.
The saving of around 15 to 20T would be a very good performance. This would be even more range possible and of course significantly lower costs.
A backup for the MS-21 would be very important if the MS-21 can not be completely Russian.
Such a TU-214 would have a potential range of 8500km.

It seems that UAC already had aircraft for the navy in planning. The 20 aviators for the next 4 years have been a sign before the demand that something happens here. These are probably now foreseen the civilian users. A production rate of 8 civil per year and 4 for the military would be safe from 2023.

By 2030 this would be 68 TU-214 civil and 32 for the military at 12 per year.

UAC named the date of the first flight of the SSJ100 with Russian PD-8 engines

The head of UAC Slyusar: the first flight of the Superjet with Russian PD-8 engines is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023


"The first flight is the first quarter of next year. ... In 2023, there will be intensive tests of the Superjet aircraft with the new PD-8 engine," RIA Novosti quotes a fragment of Slyusar's statement on the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

https://radiosputnik.ria.ru/20220408/polet-1782475273.html

I think the MS-21 will be able to enter production with 100% Russian components before the SSJ.
Because of the whole engine situation. They are currently doing ground tests for PD-8. It typically takes two years after that to qualify an engine for flight. If not more. They need to finish the ground tests, then do tests on an airborne test platform like an Il-76, then test them on the SSJ. You can skip tests but it is kind of risky. And then there is the whole deal with making the production facilities for serial production and training staff and scaling production up. Which might take even more time. This PD-8 engine under ground test is likely using one-off production techniques to validate the design like 3D printing which might not scale for mass production.

And if we are talking about import substitution of the other components like avionics, I doubt the SSJ would be much ahead.

Mig-31BM2 Super Irbis-E wrote:The MS-21 will certainly not be completely converted to Russian before 2025/2026. This is not an option currently. An MS-21-400 should re designed. Counterpart to the A321XLR. Range 9000km with PD-14 block II or PD-18 gearbox.

Only SSJRU95 are currently possible with PD-8 from about 2024. Until then, the existing aircraft park.
Here the production rate one should be per month from 2025.

This is the TU-214 in production, but about 1 to 3. However, in individual construction and not on a production line. You would certainly be 9 to 12 per year optional.

It has fly-by-wire, 2 man cockpit and is more modern like a 757. Only the PS90A engines remained in the development in 1993. These are extremely reliable, see Gasprom and deliver very good thrust. The consumption is at 757 levels. So 25% more than one A321LR consumed. But is currently subordinated.

The factor is the range of about 7000 km. Very good for Russia suitable and others.

I go so far that a revision of TU-214 is faster than a MS-21-400 russia version.

2022 = PS-90A-76 / PS-90A2 with 160KN thrust and all Russian parts. Especially the lower maintenance and ETOPS 180 is the key.

2025 = PD-14 with 160KN / PD-18 with 180KN thrust

2028 = possibly also a composite wing like MS-21.
Sobags a Russian Neo version.
The saving of around 15 to 20T would be a very good performance. This would be even more range possible and of course significantly lower costs.
A backup for the MS-21 would be very important if the MS-21 can not be completely Russian.
Such a TU-214 would have a potential range of 8500km.

It seems that UAC already had aircraft for the navy in planning. The 20 aviators for the next 4 years have been a sign before the demand that something happens here. These are probably now foreseen the civilian users. A production rate of 8 civil per year and 4 for the military would be safe from 2023.

By 2030 this would be 68 TU-214 civil and 32 for the military at 12 per year.

There was already on the plan an extra long range version of the MC21-400. That does not mean it will replace all MC-21-400, like not all A321 are in the long range or extra long range versions.
A revision of the Tu-214 needs time and partial recertification. It will not be ready before the fully russianized MC-21 will have been already recertified.
The fully russian hydraulic, pneumatic, avionics, navigation, environmental systems for the MC21 (and for the SSJ100) have been already in development for several years and according to the what was already declared should be certified and available for serial production before 2024.
Modern systems for the Tu-214 can be based on those as well, but for the first two years Russia should be concentrating on the existing version of the aircraft.

There is no need for a composite wing for the Tu-214. It is convenient that at least for the wings and the fuselage it is completely independent from the MC21 supply chain.
If they want a lighter aircraft than the Tu-214 after 2028 they would just increase the production rate of the MC21.

Indeed.
People forget that the Boeing 737 is still in production 55 years after its first flight.
It has been continuously refined and redesigned since 1967, but there are still sub-assemblies In the latest models that are as they were on the original models.

The break up of the USSR prevented many Russian airliners from benefitting from similar work.

The first production Tu-204/214 should be stock models, as it's better to get the airframes in service.
Improvements can come later, and some of those improvements, such as a PD series engine, can be retrofitted later.

I think the PD-16/18 should be an easy derivative of the PD-14. Certification is supposed to take six years but that sounds
excessive to me.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2019-08-19/aviadvigatel-mulls-higher-thrust-pd-14s-replace-ps-90a