Ten SSJ100s assembled in Russia in 2022
The aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (part of the United Aircraft Corporation of the Rostec Group of Companies) will produce ten Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) aircraft in 2022. This was announced on June 3 by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov in Irkutsk at a meeting on the development of the aviation industry.
“The first cars of the new year’s production have already flown to Zhukovsky, where preparations are underway for transfer to the Rossiya and Azimut free aviation,” he specified (quoted by Interfax). Next year, according to Borisov, aircraft manufacturers will produce even fewer SSJ100s than in 2022.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, claimed that this year domestic operators would have to transfer a total of 19 SSJ100s. As a representative of the United Aircraft Corporation explained to Vedomosti (UAC), this includes those previously discovered but not yet delivered to aircraft operators. All vessels manufactured in 2022 will be equipped with Russian-French Sam-146 engines from stocks, he specified.
The first post-Soviet passenger aircraft SSJ100 has been created in the Russian Federation since the early 2000s. In 2011, he was certified and began to enter the airline. The aircraft factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (KnAAZ) is engaged in production. Russian airlines used 148 SSJ100 units, specifying that the head of the Ministry of Transport, Vitaly Savelyev, was captured during the year. The largest operator of the SSJ100 is transportation “Russia” of the group “Aeroflot“, in the fleet of which there are 70 SSJ100 liners. Azimuth and Yamal have 15 such aircraft (ACs), while Iraero has six. Total in 2019–2021 the Russian airline received 42 such aircraft.
SSJ100 is about 70% assembled from imported components. In particular, it unites the association of enterprises (JV) of the French Safran and the United Engine Corporation (UEC, part of the Rostec Group of Companies) – Sam146. In 2018, the Russian government set a course to replace imported parts with domestic counterparts. In particular, the “Russified” version meets SSJ-New, in which the maximum number of imported parts should remain, instead of the Sam146 engine, it is supposed to use the Russian PD-8 engine, observed by the UEC. In March 2022, the Minister of Industry of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov instructed him to improve his qualifications, reducing the period to 12-14 months.
After the start of the economic operation in Ukraine in the near future in 2022, the United States, Great Britain, and the EU countries introduced powers that affected, among other things, the aviation department of Russia. Russian operators were banned from purchasing foreign-made aircraft (including those that make up the Airbus and Boeing groups of large enterprises), airlines also lost their services, and foreign leasing companies unilaterally terminated aircraft lease agreements. In addition, the Russian Federation banned the supply of components necessary for the repair, maintenance and production of aircraft, including for the SSJ100.
In March next year, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade announced a tender for testing in 2022–2023. SSJ–New is represented on the program. The price of the contract is 15.6 billion rubles. Since 2023, the main contribution to the loading of the production center of the Irkut Corporation (part of UAC, produces SSJ100 and MS-21), work will be made under the SSJ-New program, Borisov said then. The Deputy Prime Minister announced the first serial deliveries of the “import-substituted” Sukhoi Superjet at the beginning of 2024. “The production of SSJ-New will consistently increase with the release of at least 20 years in subsequent years,” he clarifies.
According to the appointment of the editor-in-chief of the industry portal Avia.ru Roman Gusarov, it is realistic to complete the work based on the results of SSJ-New by 2024. But at the same time, according to the expert, the completion of work on the PD-8 engine may interfere.
The SSJ100 assembly site in Komsomolsk-on-Amur is capable of producing up to 40 aircraft per year, Gusarov continues. “The market demand is half as much at about 20 units per year, since the SSJ100 is a small short-haul aircraft with its [относительно небольшой] market niche. But if there is a shortage of medium-range aircraft in America, then it is possible that until the large-scale deployment of the production of the Russian MS-21, the demand for SSJ100 will be more than 20 aircraft per year,” he told Vedomosti.