The contract between S7 and the State Transport Leasing Company for up to 100 Tu-214 passenger jets may fail to go through or be reduced to a minimal volume. That is according to Kommersant, citing sources in the aviation industry.
The newspaper’s sources list several reasons. They say the Kazan Aviation Plant cannot guarantee that the cockpit will be redesigned for a two-person crew, while the aircraft is currently configured for three. They also point to the need to improve flight performance, reduce maintenance downtime, and address the price issue: without a state subsidy, the cost of one aircraft remains close to nine billion rubles.
Under a memorandum signed by S7 and the United Aircraft Corporation in 2024, the contract is supposed to be approved and signed by the end of 2026. Aeroflot had previously raised similar concerns about the Tu-214. In 2022, the airline planned to order 40 aircraft, but two years later it dropped plans to buy the Tu-214 and the SJ-100 and shifted its order to the MC-21.
S7 told Kommersant that discussions on deliveries are continuing and that “there is no talk of negotiations collapsing.”
One source told the paper that S7 may ultimately sign for only as many aircraft as needed to hedge against a fleet shortage. Other sources say the carrier, like Aeroflot before it, may eventually redirect its order to the MC-21.
The Tu-214 first entered service in 1996. From 2010 to 2022, it was produced in special configurations for state use; the aircraft are operated by Russia’s Defense Ministry, the FSB, and the Rossiya special flight squadron that carries senior officials. After Boeing and Airbus left the Russian market in 2022, the government included the Tu-214 in its civil aircraft production program. However, the first fully domestic version was delivered only in 2025. According to Kommersant, the plant, burdened by state defense orders, failed to launch new production capacity on time: the first four aircraft for state aviation are expected in 2026, another eight in 2027, and output is then planned to reach up to 20 aircraft per year.