Production plan for Superjet-100 in 2023 slashed from 19 to six due to problems with parts

KHABAROVSK. May 31 (Interfax) - Production of Superjet-100 airliners this year will be slashed to six aircraft from the planned 19 due to sanctions, the industry and trade minister of Khabarovsk Territory, Yevgeny Romanov said at a regional government meeting on Wednesday.

Irkut Corporation's plant in Komsomolsk-na-Amure increased production by 30% in 2022, but results for the industry as a whole decreased, he said.

"The main reason is the revision of the program for the Superjet-100 regional plane. Unfortunately we can produce only six of [the planned] 19 aircraft in 2023 due to the refusal to supply imported equipment," Romanov said.

However, the plant in Komsomolsk-na-Amure is expanding production capacity, he said. "With federal budget resources there are plans for reconstruction and expansion of production facilities and serial production of fifth generation jets," Romanov said.

The plant planned to build 10 Superject-100s in 2022; deliveries of this plane in 2023 "will be lower than in 2022," then Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov, who now heads Roscosmos, said last June. Prior to this, Deputy Prime Minister and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said customers would get at least 19 Superjet-100s in 2022, including newly built ones and ones previously built but not delivered.

Western sanctions imposed against Russia after the start of the military operation in Ukraine prohibit supplying systems and components needed to manufacture and service aircraft. Russian aircraft makers stopped receiving components from abroad even on prepaid orders, Manturov said earlier. The freeze on prepaid contracts for components will be disputed in court, he said.

Russia plans to start serial production of the SSJ-New, a fully domestic version of the Superjet-100, in 2024.