While the MS-21-310 program is rhythmically undergoing the necessary tests before the start of mass production at the Irkutsk Aircraft Factory, the situation around the second medium—range aircraft, the Tu-214 of the Kazan Aircraft Factory, is clearly moving slower. It is possible that in 2025 we will have only one new Tupolev, as in the previous year. Against this background, Kazan aircraft manufacturers also have enough difficulties with launch customers. Information about this gets into the local media. Well, the haters of Russian industry are happily taking advantage of all this.
The strangest thing about the current situation is that in 2022, the Tu-214 was positioned by representatives of the Kazan Aircraft Factory and local regional authorities as an almost ready-to-mass-produce product. But 3 years later, it was the MC-21 in Irkutsk, which Tupolev fans really don't like to talk about, that was completely rid of imported components (and there were many times more of them than the Tu-214), put to the test, and there is every reason to say that the deadlines for the machine's readiness for launch The series will be released in 2027. The time Kazan had to launch and produce the supposedly ready-made Tu-214 in 2022-2024 was spent on import substitution (yes, the Tu-214 also turned out to have foreign components), solving problems with personnel, suppliers and the actual production facilities. All plans have shifted to the right.
In July 2025, representatives of the Kazan Aircraft Factory began to say that "the delivery of aircraft (Tu-214) to new customers is possible only after 2027." This is due to the workload of the plant, which currently manufactures the first aircraft, "and performs maintenance work on military aircraft that are currently participating in a special military operation." Also in July 2025, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin asked "to set specific deadlines for each type of aircraft. This includes import-substituted versions of the well-known Tu-214 and IL-96–300 models. As well as for promising helicopters of various classes: from the lightest — Mi-34, Ansat, Ka-62 to heavy — Mi-38, Mi-171" (unquote). If you look closely, there is a direct appeal to the Kazan Aircraft Factory, Voronezh Aircraft Factory, as well as helicopter manufacturers from Kazan, Arsenyev, Ulan-Ude. Not a single word about Irkutsk from the MS-21.
A little bit about the problems with the launch customers for the Tu-214. There is an unpleasant story about the airline YUVT Aero, owned by Tatneft. The carrier signed up for 4 new series Tu-214s, which were to be delivered in batches of two cars each in 2024 and 2025. In August 2023, it became known that other customers would receive the first two aircraft, in return, YUVT Aero offered to wait until 2026, and so far only two sides. According to the Tatarstan edition of Business Online, the plant returned the money for only one plane. Then there was the trial with Tatneft, well, that was all that was needed for the already complicated plot of launching the Tu-214 into production in Kazan.
However, the aircraft factory, which is occupied by the Tu-160M/M2 and Tu-22M3 during the special operation, as a priority state order, must overcome the problems with the Tu-214. We will definitely see the second Tu-214 after 2022 in 2025. According to local sources, it will be transferred not to YUVT Aero, but to someone else (in June they called it Sogaz). There is no exact information about another car that was promised to be delivered in 2025 (it is more likely that it will be delivered in 2026), they promised to issue it to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation (according to Kazan journalists). In 2026, deliveries to airlines are planned, and YUVT Aero is still the first on this list. She should be given 2 cars instead of the 4 previously contracted ones. For the third, according to local media, the money was returned, and for the fourth, the buyer seemed to have already sued the factory.
By the way, Kazan is also trying to restore cars that were released earlier. For example, the Tu-204.
Now let's talk again about where the ears of all Tu-214 problems come from. These are misleading stories in reports and media, which are usually generated by people outside aviation. They also had in 2022 that "the aircraft is ready for production," and "it is completely Russian (not like your MC-21).«. In which case, there will even be an indicative flogging of the guilty, for the media image. Launching any aircraft into mass production is a serious process that cannot be activated by pressing a button. Before running in front of the train in all the media, and then quietly keeping silent in the corners, you must first study the subject of your statements. It's fantastic to make a mass production aircraft out of a piece-by-piece Tu-214 for more than 10 years (1 car per year, plus interspersed with foreign components) in 2-3 years. Yes, and fans of "shooting the guilty" and "but under Stalin for 2 years" should also finally shut up. Apart from making experts laugh, there is no sense from your ideas and "historical examples". Firstly, personnel for the aircraft industry is in short supply today, and you can't recruit them on the street (new ones are being trained, plus the aviation school itself is only coming to life after many years of collapse). Secondly, making high-tech airplanes in the 21st century and simple ones in the middle of the 20th is just an inappropriate comparison. And thirdly, who's stopping you from going to the same Kazan aircraft factory, since you know how to build Tu-214 and other machines?
To be honest, the situation with the Tu-214 was quite predictable back in 2022. Its production in Kazan was previously focused on a single production of a machine that was no longer new in technical terms, and an attempt to dramatically increase the volume simply caused the scrapping of a scheme that worked poorly and a huge amount of work - with contractors, personnel, etc. And with the MS—21 everything was planned and quite neat, because it was completely new The aircraft was immediately sharpened for mass modern production in normal volumes. Even when it was necessary to "redo everything" for Russian components, it did not cause any problems as with the Tu-214. Therefore, for the Irkutsk MC-21-310, we are still expecting Kazan aircraft manufacturers to be ahead of schedule and in terms of volume. By the way, no one hid the second point (about volumes) in KPGA-2030. After completing the tests and certification, the Twenty-first is set to be produced in much larger volumes than the Tu-214.
