Fleet renewals: A new hope

This year so far has seen four of Russia’s five largest air carriers either announce massive fleet acquisition plans or take first deliveries under earlier contracts. By contrast, smaller airlines - including regional operators — are struggling to renew their fleets. The national aviation authority is pressing these companies to switch to new airliner types sooner rather than later. The problem, however, is that acquisition financing is hard to come by; also, some airlines have no idea what models to choose to replace their ageing equipment.

The year’s most resonant new delivery was the June handover of the first Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional airliner to Aeroflot (a second such aircraft followed in August). The model has long been at the centre of everyone’s attention as the first airliner to be developed in Russia after the USSR’s collapse. The manufacturer is now supposed to ramp up SSJ 100 output in order to accommodate further orders from Aeroflot and other customers, but the current production rate is falling behind the figures announced earlier this year. In April, following the first Superjet delivery to Armenian flag carrier Armavia, the OEM reported it was planning to build 14 more airframes by year-end. However, after Aeroflot received its second airliner, the projected production run for the rest of the year got slashed to 8 units. It is possible that the actual figure will prove even smaller than that.