PD-8 engines provide sustainable performance at all altitudes, speeds, modes of Superjet's flight - Russia's Rostec

MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax) - The prototype of the Russian Superjet aircraft equipped with the domestically produced PD-8 engines developed by the United Engine Corporation (UEC) continues a series of test flights, the press service for the Rostec state-owned corporation said.

"The airliner reached the maximum altitude of 11,300 meters and the speed of 0.78 Mach during the recent flight. The flight lasted three hours and 13 minutes," the press service said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Superjet crew tested gas-dynamic stability of the engines at the altitudes of 3,000, 7,600, 9,000 and 11,300 meters at different speeds, from the minimum allowable ones to cruising ones, the statement said. The aircraft also performed horizontal flights at a cruising level at a consistent speed to evaluate its fuel efficiency with a new basic propulsion system.

"The DP-8 engines demonstrated sustainable performance at all tested altitudes, speeds and modes of work. The aircraft spent about 11 hours in the air in total during flight tests," the statement said.

The first flight of the test Superjet prototype equipped with the domestically produced PD-8 engines took place in March 2025. The new Russian passenger airliner was built by the United Aircraft Corporation in close cooperation with Rostec's subsidiaries.