Russian Civil Aviation: News #5

lancelot wrote:There were plans to make a version of the Superjet with a composite wing. The Superjet 130. This was supposed to be a competitor to the Airbus A220.
This would slot in between the current Superjet 95 and the MC-21-300. So it would overlap with the MC-21-200 but be more fuel efficient.

mnztr wrote:Does composite really make sense in regionals? The jury is out when you compare the E195 E2 vs the A220-300. With AlLi you get excellent economics with easier manufacturing.

George1 wrote:First flight of the new Il-114-300 aircraft

lancelot wrote:

mnztr wrote:Does composite really make sense in regionals? The jury is out when you compare the E195 E2 vs the A220-300. With AlLi you get excellent economics with easier manufacturing.

The E2 is not a bad aircraft. But it can carry less passengers (146 vs 160), has smaller seats (46cm vs 47cm seat pitch) flies at a shorter distance (4917km vs 6700km).

Now if that easier manufacturing translates into a lower purchasing price it might still make sense. Or maybe you just don't need the extra range to begin with. But for some companies it allows using the aircraft in routes it wouldn't otherwise be possible with an aircraft of that capacity.

I would say that for Russia, with a huge landmass and distant small cities, the extra range on long thin routes would be important.

The proposed Superjet 130 was supposed to be a stretched version with a composite wing and compete with these aircraft.

GarryB wrote:I would say composites are still a new technology and like any new technology it will reveal problems and issues, but over time such problems and issues can be dealt with and solved.

Making aircraft lighter is always a good thing as long as it doesn't make them fragile or weaker, but I would expect they would do sufficient testing and research before taking any big steps.

The aerodynamics of fuselages has not changed a lot so a new lighter wing that can be made more rigid but thinner is a significant advantage for any aircraft.

mnztr wrote:Matrials tech is always improving, from what I read at the time Embrear looked at composite vs Al and decided for the size of plane there was no limit on optmizing the wing on a plane this size. As you get to larger planes, especially wide bodies, then the payback from composites is much better. If the Russians wanna re-wing a plane the TU-204 would be a better candidate and even better if they can adapt the MC-21 wing.

lancelot wrote:

mnztr wrote:Matrials tech is always improving, from what I read at the time Embrear looked at composite vs Al and decided for the size of plane there was no limit on optmizing the wing on a plane this size. As you get to larger planes, especially wide bodies, then the payback from composites is much better. If the Russians wanna re-wing a plane the TU-204 would be a better candidate and even better if they can adapt the MC-21 wing.

The MC-21 already uses a composite wing. And there is no good reason to waste money continuing to iterate on the Tu-204 design when the MC-21 is basically it's replacement.

mnztr wrote:The tu 214 is a different class of plane closer to the 767

Russian civil aviation: the apocalypse that “experts” predicted did not happen
04/18/2024

More than two years have passed since the start of the special military operation and the introduction of "hellish sanctions" against the Russian civil aviation industry. In 2022, some domestic media, relying on the opinion of "experts", predicted a complete collapse of passenger air travel for our country. The forecasts were akin to the apocalypse: flying is dangerous, we won’t fly, there’s nothing to fly. Everything is bad, we are all going to die...

However, now it’s 2024, Boeings and Airbuses are being purchased from foreign lessors, the planes are flying, their maintenance is being carried out, passenger traffic is growing, and in general the country’s civil aviation industry has adapted to the imposed restrictions and is functioning quite confidently. Of course, there are problems, they relate, first of all, to the production of domestic aircraft; Russian Aviation has already considered this issue earlier.

In 2022 after the release of the latest apocalyptic forecasts the editors of our site asked the question: "What are the experts and the media that turn to them guided by when they publish lengthy articles about how soon everything will be very bad? What are such forecasts based on?"

"After February 24, Aeroflot’s problems became a symbol of the isolation of the Russian Federation. As a result of the impact of unprecedented economic sanctions, the company is shifting its attention to domestic flights and Russian-made aircraft. The new Boeing 737 MAX 8 and Airbus A350-900 aircraft, which S7 Airlines and Aeroflot intended to replenish their fleets with, are being sold like hot cakes to Turkish and Indian airlines. And you can completely forget about Pobeda’s upcoming grandiose order for 100 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft", writes in one of the predictions a certain investment banker Evgeniy Kogan.

It is likely that the B737 MAX aircraft were sold “like hot cakes,” but this was not due to the fact that Boeing banned their deliveries to Russia due to the SVO. Aircraft of this type cannot, in principle, be operated in our country, because due to the irresponsible approach to their development and testing on the part of the American corporation, on March 14, 2019, Rosaviatsia banned flights Boeing 737 MAX in Russian airspace until further notice. In June, when Evgeniy Kogan wrote his article, he could not help but know this.

In July 2022 RBC and "News" with reference to the Aeronautical Information Center, both reported that air carriers from friendly countries are allowed to use the Boeing 737 MAX for flights to Russia. But the Federal Air Transport Agency did not re-certify this type, and the ban itself is still in effect and was introduced three years before the start of the special operation and the "hellish sanctions", and Pobeda ordered not 100 aircraft, but only 20 with an option for another 30 aircraft.

The "expert" also touched upon the detention of an Aeroflot A330 aircraft in Sri Lanka on June 2, 2022.

"The recent situation with the detention of the Airbus A330 aircraft highlights the isolation. The Aeroflot plane was blocked for several days at Colombo airport, even despite 100% guarantees from the Sri Lankan government. First of all, this problem concerns aircraft owned by foreign lessors, transferred to the Russian register. "I am surprised by the lack of professionalism of Aeroflot’s managers, who, in pursuit of profit, were unable to calculate all the risks", the banker writes.

By the end of March 2022, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency, there were five countries that guaranteed Russia the ability to fly freely to their airports: Cuba, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Venezuela and Kyrgyzstan. As for Sri Lanka, in September 2022, an apology was made at the government level of this country for the delay of the Aeroflot A330 and assurances that there would be no similar incidents in the future.

"Over the company [Aeroflot – approx. "Aviation of Russia"] hangs the specter of Iran's lame aviation industry. Decades of US sanctions have devastated the Islamic Republic's aviation sector. The EU has banned most of Iran's airline fleet from its airspace due to security concerns. While the country relies on artisanal production and a network of intermediaries to bypass restrictions and purchase spare parts for aircraft", Kogan said.

Yes, Iran does not produce large passenger aircraft, and the Islamic Republic did not succeed with the regional An-140. But to call Iran’s aviation industry "lame" can only be a person who is completely incompetent in relation to the Islamic Republic and its aviation industry. Over many years of sanctions pressure from the collective West, they have learned to bypass restrictions and import the necessary spare parts and components, bypassing the American and Anglo-Saxon markets. The same Aeroflot sent to Iran one of its wide-body A330s for maintenance.

The article by Evgeny Kogan, published in June 2022 in Investing.com, is very lengthy; it makes no sense to cite all the points from it because of its bias. However, answering the three above was imperative in order to show the level of this "expert". The statements and conclusions that the investment banker makes are replete with omissions and distortions of facts. At the same time, Yevgeny Kogan stands up for the truth. In letter to his grandfather, who died in the war, he writes: "The main thing is that I decided for myself so that I would not be ashamed in front of you. Just don't lie." At the same time, May 9, 2023, the grandson’s Victory Day became "Memorial Day" What would his grandfather say to this?

One of the most pressing problems with the current fleet of SSJ100 regional aircraft is the repair and maintenance of airworthiness of the SaM146 engines.

On May 10, 2023, it was published in a publication with a solid sign in the title an article by the same author, who later talked about the mastery of the MS-21 aircraft of an altitude of 7000 meters. The article said that if it is not possible to repair the hot part of the SaM146 engines, then, according to calculations by the Irkut Corporation and UEC, by the end of 2030, out of more than 150, only 28 Superjet 100 aircraft will remain in operation. According to some industry experts with whom the author of the article spoke, those SSJ100s that have been actively flying since the spring of 2022 will begin to "fail" en masse within a year.

In June, telegram channel "MashTech" wrote : "Currently, 314 SaM146 engines are installed on 157 aircraft, of which 32 are in faulty condition. 15 are subject to repair, ten more are in the repair fund and are used to "donate" spare parts, and seven remain in France. Over the past year [2022], 46 engines were repaired at UEC-Saturn, while in 2021 there were 29 repairs. The one and a half times increase is caused by an increase in plaque, and over time this figure will only grow. UEC-Saturn received approval from the Federal Air Transport Agency for the "repair of the SaM146 gas generator", which falls under the responsibility of the French side, but only by "replacing parts using those dismantled from faulty donor engines." Now UEC is extending the service life of engines by 1 thousand cycles, this is only enough for a year of flights, and then problems with repair and maintenance may arise."

A year has passed. There are no mass failures of Superjets. At the end of 2023, the import substitution program for key components for service maintenance of the SaM146 was completed. In Russia, modular repair of one of the most critical components of the power plant - the electronic control unit - has been mastered, and domestic fuel filters have been created. As part of import substitution, repair work on the air starter valve was approved. In December, supplies of Russian spark plugs to SSJ100 operators began. Airplanes fly intensively, the average daily flight time of Superjets is comparable to the flight time of medium-haul aircraft.

In 2023, airlines, using funds allocated by the Government of the Russian Federation, cleared some aircraft from double registration. S7 and Ural Airlines reported that they had settled disputes over 45 and 19 aircraft, respectively. Aeroflot Group bought 93 aircraft, eight medium-haul Airbus A319 - the Far Eastern airline Aurora. In total for 2023 and the beginning of 2024, Russian airlines you bought their foreign lessors have 165 aircraft. The Government reported that the limit of funds allocated for these purposes from the National Welfare Fund (NWF) in the amount of 300 billion rubles were exhausted.

In total, at the end of 2023, Russian airlines transported 105.4 million people, which is 10.7% higher than the previous year, but 5 percent lower than in 2021. The volume of passenger air traffic exceeded the target value (101.2 million people) by 4 percent, which was included in the base scenario of the comprehensive program for the development of the air transport industry for 2023. It is expected that in 2024 the positive trend will continue, passenger traffic will increase by 8 percent compared to 2023 and will amount to about 114 million people. This is stated in research State Transport Leasing Company (STLC).

There are comments in the Russian information space by the Honored Pilot of Russia, former flight director of Vnukovo Airlines Yuri Sytnik. In the summer of 2022 he shared with the TV channel “360” the opinion that the Boeing and Airbus planes that remained in Russia are already "sitting without spare parts", since neither Europe, nor the USA, nor China supply the necessary components due to sanctions. "More than 700 aircraft will be inoperative in two to three months. Everything will stop, because a plane cannot fly without maintenance, without regulations and with parts that exhausted their service life", Sytnik asserted.

The reality is that the bulk of foreign aircraft were not grounded then by the winter of 2022, and are not sitting now. Industry experts claim that there are no serious problems with spare parts, but the existing mechanism for their delivery to Russia leads to increased costs for carriers and the state. Previously, ordering spare parts was a simple process, but now, due to sanctions, it requires complex logistics through intermediary companies, which increases the cost of spare parts by up to three times. The number of suppliers has increased sharply from three to 330, mainly from the United Arab Emirates, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It is planned to expand the geography of supplies, attracting other countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Spare parts are often not original, but not counterfeit either. Some are made in China, with Boeing and Airbus officially recognizing them. Pilot and commander of the A320 Andrey Litvinov emphasizes that control over spare parts in Russia is very strict. If a part or assembly turns out to be counterfeit, it is not accepted and is not installed on the aircraft. Airlines also support their air fleet by reinstalling components and assemblies from non-flying aircraft to operational ones, resorting to cannibalization of part of their aircraft fleet. Thus, for example, one of the "Superjets" of the Yakutia airline was restored to airworthiness. According to Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev, Russian airlines will be able to maintain the airworthiness of their fleet for another ten years to enable the Ministry of Industry and Trade to reach the planned rate of production of new domestic aircraft.

The main issue in the context of sanctions against Russian civil aviation and the simultaneous increase in passenger traffic of domestic carriers remains flight safety. Early December 2023 magazine Newsweek (access from Russia is blocked) conducted a study in which the authors found that the number of aviation incidents with passenger aircraft in Russia tripled after the introduction of Western sanctions. Researcher at IMEMO RAS Alexander Ermakov in the business magazine "Profile" named such "research" creates a self-sustaining meme, when "more attention to a topic provokes more publications that confirm fears and fuel interest."

The Federal Air Transport Agency stated based on this publication that there is no trend towards an increase in the number of aviation incidents in Russian air transport. Over the 11 months of 2023, their number with aircraft carrying passengers and cargo decreased by 1.3% compared to the same period last year to 670 cases. Of these, the number of incidents related to failures of aircraft and engines amounted to 400 cases - 2% less than in January-November 2022. FAVT Press Secretary Artyom Korenyako emphasized that the safety of flights and passengers is a key priority for all air transport workers.

We are also very attentive to the situation with flight safety in Russia. An analysis by Kommersant did not see an increase in the number of air incidents, which was reflected in its infographics.

The Russian civil aviation industry remains heavily dependent on imported equipment and spare parts. But despite this, having been under the most severe restrictions for two years, the industry not only did not collapse, but showed resilience and showed the ability to adapt. In the next 2-3 years, a further recovery in air traffic volumes is expected, and the completion of the SVO and the start of production of MS-21-310, SJ-100, Tu-214 and Il-114-300 will give it a powerful impetus for further progressive development.

Andrey Velichko
for the Russian Aviation website

https://aviation21.ru/grazhdanskaya-aviaciya-rossii-apokalipsis-kotoryj-predrekali-eksperty-ne-sluchilsya/

Boeing 737 MAX

but 5 percent lower than in 2021

GarryB wrote:
Recon models could also be further developed... wasn't the open skies aircraft based on a Tupolev 214 or 204 that the US were upset about because it was so sophisticated and capable?

Red Wings Airlines wants a Russian name
The Russian airline Red Wings has been part of the "empire" of the state-owned company Rostec for around a year. This also affects marketing: Now Red Wings wants to get rid of their English name.

Patrick Zwerger
April 22, 2024

Red Wings' fleet is already "Russified": of the 27 aircraft that bear the Moscow airline's logo, 24 are Russian-made. The brunt of the scheduled service is carried by 20 Sukhoi Superjets, which joined the inventory between May 2020 and December 2022. Red Wings completed its first Superjet passenger flight in September 2020. Red Wings also recently owned a Tupolev Tu-214 and three Tu-204s , two of which are currently in Ulyanovsk for maintenance. Only three Boeing 777-200s remained in the fleet as western models. The former workhorse from the West, the Airbus A321, has long since disappeared, as has the A320, which Red Wings flew until 2022.

The future is Russian
In 2023, Red Wings also entered the cargo business with the takeover of the cargo airline Sky Gates. Since then, Sky Gates' only aircraft has been a reactivated Ilyushin Il-96-400T - a second aircraft of the same type is due to follow soon. And of course Red Wings itself is planning with the Russian hopeful Jakovlev (Irkut) MS-21-310rus. When that will come is anyone's guess, because the project is noticeably stalling and delivery of the first MS-21 to the first customer Aeroflot is not due until 2026 at the earliest. Nevertheless, it is clear to those responsible for Red Wings: an English name does not fit a purely Russian airline - especially not in this day and age.


New name “Dawn”?
The Russian business magazine RBK reports that as a consequence of recent developments, Red Wings would like to acquire a genuinely Russian name as soon as possible. After all, the “Red Wings” brand was created with the aim of establishing the airline on the international charter market. These priorities have changed. Red Wings still flies abroad – including to Thailand, Turkey and Georgia. The Western-like attitude associated with the name is still a thorn in the side of the airline managers. According to the insider sources cited by RBK, the term "Rassvet" (рассвет)
(dawn) is very popular in the selection of alternatives discussed. But nothing has been decided yet; both Red Wings and parent company Rostec have so far refused to comment on RBK, as the magazine continues.

SJ-100 prototype aircraft arrived in Zhukovsky from Komsomolsk-on-Amur
27.04.2024

The SJ-100 prototype aircraft has completed a programme of factory finalisation tests and arrived at the Gromov LII airfield in Zhukovsky. Here the airliner will perform flights under the certification test programme. This was reported in the press service of the United Aircraft Corporation.

The aircraft with flight number 97021 (s/n 97001) is assembled at the Yakovlev Production Centre in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The aircraft accompanied by another Superjet (s/n 97005) took off from the factory’s Dzemgi airfield on the afternoon of 26 April. The aircraft made an intermediate landing at Tolmachevo airport and after refuelling and crew rest, arrived in Zhukovsky. The total length of the flight was about 6 thousand kilometres.

In Zhukovsky, the Aviation of Russia website explained why an escort aircraft was required. “Flight 97005 was a lettered aircraft in order to provide navigation on the route of Flight 97021, as the domestic avionics on it has not yet been certified and tested properly for a long flight,” explained a source at the Gromov Research Institute.

“The flight went perfectly, there are no complaints about the operation of onboard systems. The flight was performed on a standard profile, similar to the base aircraft – at an echelon of 11 kilometres and a speed of over 800 km/h. We also landed at Tolmachevo airport, which indicates a high degree of readiness of this machine. Now we must confirm its high performance during flight certification tests,” said Honoured Test Pilot of Russia Leonid Chikunov, who piloted the aircraft.

According to Andrei Boginsky, UAC’s Deputy Director General for Civil Aviation – General Director of Yakovlev, the first SJ-100 prototype, which is powered by French-Russian SaM146 engines, will be used in flight tests to speed up certification. The rest of the aircraft’s key systems, including avionics, landing gear, auxiliary power unit, integrated control system, and power supply system are already Russian.

“When the PD-8 engine passes the planned additional tests, two more prototype aircraft will join the flights. In total, we will have to perform more than 200 test flights to make sure that the aircraft is 200 per cent safe for future passengers,” said Andrey Boginsky.

Upon arrival at the Gromov LII airfield, the SJ-100 was relocated to the Yakovlev Aviation Technical Complex, where it will undergo preparation for the flight certification test programme.

https://ruavia.su/sj-100-prototype-aircraft-arrived-in-zhukovsky-from-komsomolsk-on-amur/