Russian-Belarusian airplane expected to go into commercial operation in 2028

YEKATERINBURG. July 12 (Interfax) - An airplane jointly produced by Russia and Belarus is expected to be certified in 2027 and go into operation in 2028, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said.

The plane will be built by Russia's Ural Civil Aviation Works (UWCA) and Belarusian aircraft repair plant Baranovichi, Manturov told reporters on the sidelines of the Innoprom-2023 exhibition in Yekaterinburg on Tuesday.

Manturov said at the Industrial Dialog: Russia-Belarus business forum at Innoprom on Tuesday that a "19-seat airplane was put" on the agenda. "I think that this will be a good start for subsequent cooperation, as well as industrial cooperation in the aircraft industry, including supplies of components for our current programs," he said.

Manturov said earlier in an interview with Interfax that there is great potential in the area of aircraft for regional and local airlines and that talks are being held with Belarus on the joint development and production of a 19-seat plane.

It was reported earlier that Russia and Belarus had agreed to develop an airframe to replace the L-410, a Czech 19-seat plane developed in the 1960s by Let Kunovice (now Aircraft Industries). Production of the L-410 had been partially localized at UWCA since 2018 and the level of localization was estimated at 60% at the end of 2021.