Russian Federal Air Transport Agency studying possibility of re-equipping SJ 100 with new engine after service life of foreign engines expires

MOSCOW. Oct 8 (Interfax) - The Superjet 100 aircraft, which were serially produced in Russia until 2022 with Russian-French SaM146 engines, will likely be re-equipped with Russian PD-8 engines in the future, the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Dmitry Yadrov said.

"Ultimately, we will apparently have to re-equip these domestic aircraft which have foreign engines by installing PD-8 engines, replacing the control system and the engine nacelle. This issue is under consideration," Yadrov told journalists.

"The Superjet is a fairly modern aircraft, they have a small amount [of their service life used up]. Yes, the issue of extending the airframe's service life will arise, but overall these machines are quite new, they can fly for 20 years or more. The Air Transport Agency is more in favor of re-equipping the current Superjets," he said.

To begin these activities, the certification of the PD-8 must first be completed, Yadrov said. "Soon the 150-hour, most critical tests for the engine will begin - their results will largely influence the decision to issue a type certificate for the PD-8," he said.

Approximately 160 Superjet 100 aircraft are in operation in Russia, which were built in international cooperation and equipped with, among other things, foreign components. Serial production of such airliners was stopped in 2022 amid anti-Russian sanctions. Deliveries of the import-substituted version of the SJ 100 are expected to begin in 2026, which will be equipped with the Russian PD-8 engine.

According to a pessimistic forecast, Russia expects 339 aircraft to be retired by 2030, including 230 domestic ones, Yadrov previously said at the Federation Council. The majority of these are Soviet-produced An-24, An-26, An-2 and Yak-40 aircraft, but there is also a possibility of part of the Superjet 100 fleet being retired due to the limited service life of the SaM146. This concerns "a couple of dozen aircraft out of the one and a half hundred that are currently being used very intensively," Yadrov said. At the same time, according to a decision made, the service life of the SaM146 will be extended, which will allow aircraft equipped with them to be operated safely until 2028-2029.