December 18, 2024

Where Are All the Planes?


Where Are All the Planes?
Sukhoi Superjet 100 flying over Italy. SuperJet International, Wikimedia Commons.

Obyedinyonnaya Aviastroitelnaya Korporatsiya (United Aircraft Corporation), a Russian aerospace and defense corporation with a majority stake held by the Russian government, planned to produce 108 airliners after the start of the Russian War in Ukraine. According to the BBC Russian Service, in the ensuing two years, only seven Superjet 100 aircraft and two experimental Il-96-400M and Il-114 planes have been produced.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, Western countries imposed stringent sanctions on the Russian aviation industry. For instance, the import of aircraft and spare parts for aircraft are banned. In response, on June 27, 2022, the Russian government approved a program to develop the air transport industry through 2030.

The program set ambitious targets: 14 aircraft by the end of 2022, 25 in 2023, and 69 by the end of 2024. By 2030, the plan aimed to deliver 1,032 passenger planes. However, the program faltered almost immediately, and delivery deadlines have already been postponed twice.

A source in the aviation industry told the BBC Russian Service that the state program was “an imitation of activity” and intended primarily to “calm government nerves.”

The construction of new Sukhoi SuperJet 100 aircraft has been slowed by dependence on foreign components. Production stopped after sanctions cut off access to many of these parts. A stockpile of components had been reserved for production, but they were repurposed to maintain the airworthiness of existing planes. Efforts are underway to replace foreign components with domestic versions or to reorganize the supply chain to acquire foreign parts indirectly.

Similar challenges face the production of MS-21 aircraft. By 2025, seven engines are expected to be produced for this aircraft, enough to equip three MS-21s. Yet the updated aviation development program calls for nine MS-21s to be built by 2025.

In addition to new SSJ and MS-21 airliners, which were designed after the Soviet Union’s collapse, the program includes projects that originated during the Soviet era: the Il-96-300 and Tu-214. While these models are considered outdated both technologically and materially, they remain in the plan because of limited alternatives.

Even these older aircraft rely on foreign components that must be replaced through import substitution, the BBC Russian Service reported.

You Might Also Like

Ghost of Economy Future
  • December 15, 2024

Ghost of Economy Future

Russian analysts give their forecasts for what the economy might look like in early 2025.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955