Russia is struggling to build new planes as Western sanctions imposed in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine continue to impact the country’s aviation industry.
Deliveries of all-new Russian aircraft have been delayed by two years due to safety concerns, Russian newspaper Kommersant has reported. The rollout of a program that was launched to replace Western-made aircraft such as Boeing and Airbus jets with domestic ones has been pushed back from 2024 to 2025-2026, Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and Rostec, the country’s state-owned defense conglomerate announced.
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The country’s aviation industry has been hit hard by Western sanctions imposed after Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russian-operated planes have been sanctioned by the U.S. government, and aircraft manufacturers have stopped delivering spare parts and new planes to the country.
Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of Rostec, said on the sidelines of Putin’s annual address to the nation in Moscow on Thursday that deliveries to airlines of the newest Russian passenger airliner MS-21 will not begin in 2024 as planned, due to concerns about safety.
“We are still worried about the safety of all of us—we will fly on these planes,” Chemezov said.
Citing sources in the aviation industry, Kommersant said all civilian projects—MS-21, SJ-100, Tu-214, Il-114 and Baikal—are affected, as authorities are unable to carry out the necessary tests on time.
The publication said that, for example, the weight of the new MS-21 passenger aircraft has increased by 5.75 tons, compared to the previous version, which used foreign components and Western engines. This means its flight range and altitude have been significantly reduced.
One of Kommersant’s sources said that, if Russia is unable to reduce the weight of the aircraft, it will be impossible for authorities to make the plane achieve the desired performance characteristics. “It’s impossible to increase engine thrust by 20 percent,” the source said.
Russia has also been plagued with a spike in plane malfunctions.
Data compiled by Newsweek last year showed that, from September 2023 to December 8, 2023, Russia saw a total of 60 commercial aviation incidents that involved emergency landings, engine fires and malfunctions, along with other technical issues forcing the planes to abandon their intended routes.
There were 15 incidents in September; 25 in October; 12 in November; and eight by December 8, Newsweek found.
Earlier, independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe found that, from January to August 2023, more than 120 air accidents were recorded in Russia involving civil aircraft used by Russian airlines. This brought the total number of plane malfunctions in 2023 to over 180. In comparison, 61 incidents were reported in 2022.
Kirill Yankov, chairman of Russia’s Passengers Union, told Russian news outlet 74.ru in December that the rise in commercial aviation incidents has been driven by a lack of spare parts and maintenance. Overall flight safety has decreased due to Western sanctions, Yankov added.
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