Aeroflot to switch to Tu-214 as its ‘base jet’

The Tupolev Tu-214 will become the main type of aircraft operated by the Russian flag carrier Aeroflot.

This news was announced by the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation and head of the Director committee of Aeroflot, Vitaly Savelyev in an interview with television channel Russia 1.

Savelyev explained that several other airlines are also considering switching to a fleet of predominantly Tu-214 aircraft.

“Tu-214 is one of the models that the companies, in particular Aeroflot, consider as their base model. They are going to slowly transition to using it,” Savelyev is quoted by Vedomosti, a Russian-language business daily newspaper.

The Tupolev Tu-214 is a variant of the Tu-204 with an increased take-off weight and fuel capacity. Designed in the late 1980s, the Tu-204 and its variants were intended to become the Soviet Union’s main medium-range airliner.

However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union production struggled with just several Tu-204s delivered each year and many airlines retired them as soon as Western-made aircraft became available.

Aeroflot retired its last Tu-204 in 2005. North Korea’s Air Koryio and the Russian government are now the main operators of the type.

Due to sanctions imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, all major Western aircraft manufacturers, including Airbus and Boeing, withdrew from the country and stopped their support of aircraft operated by Russian airlines.

In April, United Aircraft Corporation announced that it will ramp-up production of the Il-214, with plans to manufacture more than 10 aircraft per year.