The contract between S7 Airlines and State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK) for the supply of up to 100 passenger Tu-214s may be suspended or modified to a minimum number of aircraft, Kommersant newspaper reported, citing aviation industry sources.
The main reasons for possible contract failure:
- The manufacturer – Kazan Aviation Plant – cannot guarantee the modernization of the aircraft cabin for a crew of two people (currently the cabin is designed for three crew members);
- The need to improve flight performance and reduce maintenance downtime;
- Lack of government support, which would reduce the cost of the aircraft from the current approximately nine billion rubles.
The contract with S7 must be approved and signed before the end of 2026. This condition is included in the memorandum that the airline signed with United Aircraft Corporation (UAC; part of Rostec) in 2024.
Previously, Aeroflot demanded modernization of the cabin of the Tu-214. In 2022, the carrier was going to order 40 aircraft, but after two years it abandoned the purchase of the Tu-214 and SJ-100. The company redirected the request to MS-21. The carrier’s rejection of the Tu-214 was explained The “old” version of the cabin and transformation Delivery times.
Discussion of supplies continues and there is no talk of a “collapse of negotiations,” S7 told Kommersant.
According to one of the newspaper’s interlocutors, S7 will eventually conclude a contract on the size of aircraft that will be sufficient from the point of view of the aviation industry and the desire for insurance in the event of a fleet shortage.
The source adds that the price issue will not become an issue, given S7’s willingness to buy and restore old Airbus aircraft while its A320neo is grounded. As Kommersant previously reported, Russian airlines are not using about half of their A320neo and A321neo aircraft because they cannot service them due to sanctions.
Other sources believe that S7, following Aeroflot, may redirect the order to MS-21.
Tu-214 is a Russian medium-range narrow-body aircraft. It was first used in 1996. And in 2010-2022 the aircraft produced In special configurations for government needs. For example, the Tu-214 is used by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Federal Security Service and the special aviation division “Russia” to transport Russian officials.
In 2022, after the departure of Boeing and Airbus aircraft against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Russian government decided consent “Anti-sanctions” program for the production of civil aircraft. It was assumed that the first domestically produced “import substitution” Tu-214 would begin to reach customers in 2023. But the first aircraft of this type was released only in 2025.
According to Kommersant, the Kazan Aviation Plant, which had been busy with state defense orders since the beginning of the war, was unable to open new capacities for the production of the Tu-214 on time. The first four Tu-214s for government aviation are expected to be delivered in 2026, and another eight in 2027, after which it is planned to produce up to 20 vehicles per year.