Rossiya Airlines has started comparing the technical and economic performance of the foreign SaM146 engine and the fully Russian PD-8 for the SSJ-100. The prospect of fleet re-motorization depends on the results of the analysis.
Rossiya Airlines (part of the Aeroflot Group) has started comparing the cost of operating the Russian PD-8 and SaM146 engines, CEO of the carrier Jan Burg said in an interview with RBC. Based on the results of comparing the parameters of power plants, the operator will decide on the expediency of purchasing domestic engines for their installation on aircraft in the airline's fleet.
"Today, Rossiya compares the theoretical cost of operating PD-8 and SaM146. It consists of fuel efficiency, the cost of maintaining airworthiness, the cost of spare parts, the cost of replacement engines when the main one goes to repair, the duration of this repair, and much more. The operator expects to receive answers to these questions by the end of the year," he said.
Rossiya Airlines currently has 78 Russian-designed SSJ-100 aircraft in its fleet . At the moment, it is the world's largest operator of this type of aircraft. The launch customer of these vessels was the parent Aeroflot, but in 2021, the parent company's management decided to transfer all SSJ-100s to a subsidiary company that will develop the group's regional hubs in Krasnoyarsk and Sochi, while the parent company will focus on mainline air transportation from Sheremetyevo base airport.
The SSJ-100 was developed before the imposition of sanctions by Western countries in 2022, and the aircraft became a product of international cooperation: a significant part of its components were supplied from foreign countries. It was equipped with a French-Russian SaM146 engine, which is no longer used on any type of aircraft. The hot part (gas generator for high-pressure compressor, combustion chamber, high-pressure turbine) of the power plant was supplied by the French Snecma, the cold part (fan and low-pressure turbine) was supplied by NPO Saturn (Rybinsk, part of the Rostec United Engine Corporation). The engine caused complaints from operators and lessors, after 2-4 thousand hours of flight, cracks appeared in the combustion chambers or oil collectors, after which the engine was sent for repair, while the manufacturer guaranteed 7.5-8 thousand hours of guaranteed flight time before the first overhaul. The renovation lasted about two months and cost $2-5 million. After the sanctions were imposed in 2022, direct supplies of components from France ceased.
UEC began developing the PD-8 engine in 2019, it was assumed that they could be equipped with the SSJ-100 and the Be-200 amphibious aircraft.
The target price of the engine under development (set by the Government of the Russian Federation) is estimated at 1 billion rubles. In March 2025, Rostec announced the first flight of the import-substituted SJ-100 aircraft with Russian PD-8, which marked the beginning of its flight tests. Deliveries of the first SJ-100 are scheduled to begin in 2026.
Jan Burg says that Russia, together with the UEC, is trying to form an approximate model for the operation of the PD-8, to determine its parameters, including financial ones.
"When an engine is being developed, its creators use hypotheses about the resource of its components and other parameters. The solutions embedded in the design should ensure that these parameters are achieved. The engine never leaves the factory immediately with full life. For example, if the model has a target resource value of 20,000 cycles, the first engine is likely to be released with a resource of 500 cycles. Engines that are being tested and not put into commercial operation run out of hours and cycles, then they are disassembled or otherwise determined how the parts behave. The results of the operation of engines in commercial operation are also evaluated, and often, based on the results of this assessment, improvements are already being carried out in operation," said the top manager.
Herman Kostrinsky
