The Air Transport Operators Association has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, outlining three state support measures for the nation’s aviation sector. This information was reported by Kommersant, a major Russian business daily.
The first proposed measure aims to channel subsidies from the Aviation Industry Development program toward the Superjet SSJ 100 and new Tu-214 aircraft. Current funding under the SSJ 100 support initiative focuses on boosting serviceability and reliability. Between 2023 and 2025, approximately 7.83 billion rubles were allocated annually to this program. At present, the Tu-214 does not meet the subsidy eligibility criteria set by the program. (Source: Kommersant)
The second measure envisions co-financing the replacement of SSJ engines produced prior to 2022 with domestically manufactured PD-8 engines. This would involve re-motorizing the SSJ by replacing the SaM-146 powerplants from the Russian-French PowerJet venture with PD-8 engines produced domestically. The article does not specify the subsidy amount needed for this engine swap, leaving the figure undetermined in the report. (Source: Kommersant)
The third proposed measure would remove the requirement for bank and government guarantees when purchasing and leasing new aircraft. Experts cited by the newspaper believe this option has a better chance of approval than the others. In 2020, the total amount of state guarantees required for leases of SSJ 100 aircraft was estimated at roughly 140 billion rubles. (Source: Kommersant)
Separately, on March 25, Vitaly Savelyev, head of the Ministry of Transport, told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting that Russian airlines carried 416,000 more passengers in March 2023 than the ministry’s own forecast had anticipated. This data point underscores ongoing demand and the potential impact of policy changes on air travel in Russia. (Source: Kommersant)