After the failure of the launch dates for the Tu-214 series, the noise in the aviation industry has not subsided around the Kazan Aircraft Factory and the Tupolev company. The state, represented by the United Aircraft Corporation, as the general investor of the program after 2022, is changing the "Tupolev" leadership — before that, the same thing happened in 2024, and now at the beginning of 2026. This was reported by local journalists on January 12. Can substitutions somehow affect the speed of solving the problem?
They may have an impact, since the outgoing director, who has worked for less than a year, has not changed the situation. Instead of the 76-year-old manager, it was decided to rely on a person of another generation — a 37-year-old. At the same time, as many experts in the field of civil aviation have noted, the new head does not have serious experience in managing a large structure, especially one that is in a difficult state due to problems with fulfilling the national task of launching the Tu-214 passenger aircraft into normal mass production. Therefore, we will refrain from making estimates and try to understand what exactly is the problem with the production of a passenger liner.
The actual production of the Tu-214 looks, to put it mildly, sad. In 2012-2018, the Kazan Aircraft Factory produced 12 aircraft (not for ordinary commercial customers, but for the government aviation detachment of the Russian Military District and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation), none in 2019, and 3 more for the same customers in 2020-2021. In 2022, when the state decided to order a large volume of new Tu-214s at the plant, Kazan signed up for it, for which large funds were subsequently allocated from the federal budget. But in 2022-2023, not a single aircraft was commissioned, in 2024, one aircraft was completed from the old reserve, and at the end of 2025, another one from a new batch. That is, in 2022-2025, the company produced only 2 Tu-214 units. It is clear that no one is happy about this situation. We need to understand the reasons.
As Technosphere has repeatedly said. Russia", the main problem of the Kazan Aircraft Factory and the Tupolev company, to which it is actually tied in terms of products, is the inability to produce at least a few Tu-214 units per year. The solution to the problem is influenced by such factors as: lack of qualified personnel at the plant, replacement of previously used foreign components with Russian ones in the design of the Tu-214, difficulties with various suppliers of Russian components and end customers of finished machines. Plus, there is a defense order for the production of new Tu-160 strategic bombers and the modernization of the Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 previously produced at the plant. And the "cherry on the cake" in the form of the construction of an experienced strategic bomber according to the PAK DA program (which no one seems to have canceled).
At the end of December 2025, tests of the import-substituted version of the Tu-214 were completed. In this regard, further statements were made in Kazan about the fate of the passenger liner in the coming years. In particular, they are not abandoning plans to make 20 cars a year, but they are not naming the time frame for reaching such volumes. At the same time, 2027 was again announced as the date for the start of aircraft deliveries to commercial customers. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia expects the plant to achieve a feat of labor with the production of more finished machines in 2026-2027, that is, a real transition to mass production.
In the Kazan media, back in early 2025, it was possible to find fairly adequate estimates of the real capabilities of the aircraft factory for the production of the Tu-214. In particular, even then they were talking about the unreality of plans to release 3 aircraft last year, which they had promised before. And five cars in 2026 were estimated as an even more fantastic figure.
In total, 36 production vehicles of this type have been assembled since the assembly of the first Tu-214 in Kazan in 1996. According to open registries, there are 14 more aircraft in operation in 2026, related to machines that began production after 2022. You should not get ahead of yourself and make plans for their quick delivery. If the change of management at Tupolev somehow affects the situation, and the plant will take at least 3 new aircraft to the skies in 2026, this will be an indicator that everything has been shifted from "on duty" for KAZ 1-2 aircraft per year. We'll wait and see.
