As the newspaper Kommersant reported in [...] Aigul Abdullina's article, "With a sense of special usefulness. Russia has proposed restoring 700 idle An-2s," the developer of the An-2 aircraft has proposed restoring the airworthiness of about 700 of these aircraft, which are in the storage of private structures. Their resource is only a third depleted, the initiators specify, and they will help to avoid a shortage of transportation on local lines in the next five to ten years. The restoration of the entire park will require 14.5-21 billion rubles. But carriers note that they cannot even afford to maintain existing aircraft.
AN-2 aircraft in storage (c) Moskovsky Komsomolets
FAU SibNIA named after Chaplygina (the developer of the An-2) proposed restoring the airworthiness of the An-2s currently in storage. According to the developer's estimates, the resource of these aircraft (VS) is only 25-30% depleted and they can be used taking into account the fact that the An-2 does not have a calendar service life. The initiative, according to Kommersant, was discussed at a meeting with the An-2 operators at the DOSAAF Moscow Aircraft Repair Plant (ARZ).
According to Kommersant in SibNIA, the refinement, restoration and modernization of the remaining aircraft in the Russian Federation can solve the problem of the shortage of carrying capacity on local lines in the next five to seven years: "Until new aircraft of this class appear on the market."
SibNIA added that since 2024, 16 of the 51 An-2 aircraft that were in storage and subject to disposal have been restored to airworthiness.
In total, according to SibNIA, of the 17.5 thousand An-2s produced, more than 14.7 thousand were destroyed or written off. 853 aircraft remain in the civil registry of the Federal Air Transport Agency, and 9 more are in the experimental registry. By the end of 2025, 62 operators of this type of aircraft had 249 aircraft left, and there are additionally 276 copies in the DOSAAF fleet of Russia.
According to SibNIA's analysis, the end of the An-2's life cycle will occur by about 2100, and the ASH-62IR engine life will be reached by 2063. To maintain airworthiness, the developer proposed replacing the ASH-62IR engine with RT6A-67V (Pratt & Whitney), TRE331-12 (Honeywell) or Russian TVD-10B engines. Replacement of instruments in the crew cabin and modernization of the cabin are also proposed.
The Federal Air Transport Agency did not evaluate the idea of restoring the An-2 fleet, clarifying to Kommersant that today 235 such aircraft still have an airworthiness certificate.
The regulator added that more than 40 An-2s were involved in commercial air transportation at the beginning of April. The payload of the AN-2 is 12 passengers or 1.3 thousand kg of cargo.
Of the aircraft in storage, about 85% are owned by individuals and private entities, Pavel Nenastyev, General Director of the DOSAAF Moscow Aviation Plant, told Kommersant. Another part is used by the state aviation Administration, as well as in civil aviation schools, but the An-2 is no longer used as a training aircraft. According to Mr. Nenastiev, airlines that are interested in the aircraft and are confident of its payback will be able to pay for the repair and restoration of the board "depending on the need."
The cost of repairing the An-2 at Russian plants is estimated at 17-25 million rubles, depending on the equipment on board and the technical condition, said Mr. Nenastyev. The cost of AN-2 also depends on the condition and varies from 3.5 million to 5 million rubles. All spare parts and components for airframes and engines until 2022 came from Poland, Pavel Nenastyev explained, now supplies "are of a parallel import nature," and the cost for a number of items has increased up to ten times. Thus, the restoration of the entire fleet of idle cornhuskers today will cost 14.5-21 billion rubles.
Operational difficulties
Airlines using the An-2, however, indicate that they do not have the funds not only for new equipment, but also for maintaining the existing fleet. This is also due to stricter requirements for aircraft maintenance. At the end of 2025, SibNIA, by decision of the Federal Air Transport Agency, notified the An-2 operators of the cancellation of the resource bulletin, which allowed the operation of units and components according to technical condition - when repair or replacement of parts does not occur on schedule, but according to real necessity.
At the end of January, Light Air appealed to the Federal Air Transport Agency with a request to withdraw this decision.
As noted in the letter (Kommersant has it), today most of the spare parts for the An-2 are either not manufactured or are manufactured in unfriendly countries and are supplied at prices and deadlines that have increased several times since 2022.
Together with the rising cost of issuing certificates of airworthiness, the situation threatens to completely shut down the An-2 fleet, the appeal says. Dmitry Toropov, CEO of Light Air, clarified to Kommersant that after September 1, the extension of the SLG for the An-2 increased in price more than five times, from 75 thousand to 400 thousand rubles.
In March, the An-2 Association sent a similar request to the Federal Air Transport Agency, its head, Antonov Airlines CEO Vladimir Antonov, told Kommersant. The association stressed that the transfer of aircraft to maintenance according to the bulletin approved in Ukraine contains a list of units whose service life is "artificially low" compared to the global average.
The Federal Air Transport Agency told Kommersant that SibNIA had withdrawn the previous bulletin in order to comply with "air legislation procedures." The agency expects that the developer will send the carriers updated documentation after the completion of the An-2 certification.
According to a representative of the Federal Air Transport Agency, the process took additional time to work out measures for passenger safety. Now the main decisions have been made and the certification process should be completed by the end of spring, the regulator said.
According to a Kommersant source, after the aircraft receives the type certificate, the operators will return to operating the units according to their technical condition. But Kommersant's interlocutors among the carriers say that there are no guarantees of the return of the previous newsletter.
The question of alternatives
Most operators have doubts about the imminent start of deliveries of the Baikal turboprop aircraft, which is to replace the An-2. According to Kommersant's sources, the Baikal project requires serious constructive improvements (see Kommersant dated February 21, 2025). In May 2025, Deputy Prime Minister and presidential envoy to the Far East Yuri Trutnev said that the development of the aircraft had "reached an impasse." But later, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov announced that the project would continue.
In any case, the An-2 Association believes that Baikal will not be able to become a full-fledged alternative to the An-2, as it is not suitable for operation in remote regions with unpaved landing sites. But the head of the Aerokhimflot alliance (who advocates replacing the Baikal An-2), Klim Galiullin, is confident that the Baikal can be improved to flight performance comparable to the An-2 and even "surpassing them." He adds that the problems with the delivery of aviation gasoline for the An-2 to Chukotka and the regions of the Far North with its high oil consumption "will not go away," because there is no economic sense in upgrading the An-2.
Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of Aviport, says that there is no obvious option for the most optimal strategy for maintaining local airlines. According to him, the segment of commercial air transportation in small aircraft can exist only if they are subsidized. Therefore, according to the expert, it is necessary to decide to subsidize transportation on the An-2 and restore their airworthiness, continue investing in Baikal, or "abandon both programs" and fly on the Mi-8. The latter option, adds Mr. Panteleev, involves more subsidies per flight hour, but allows you to save on maintaining landing pads.
According to Oleg Panteleev, the decrease in the number of An-2s in commercial transportation is not due to problems of maintaining airworthiness, but to the high pace of road construction, renewal of the bus fleet and motorization in the regions. In areas where aviation is indispensable, several dozen An-2s may be in demand if there is an airworthiness maintenance system and spare parts depots, the expert adds. About a hundred more aircraft, he continues, can be used, for example, in the interests of aviation security. In other types of aircraft, the An-2 will continue to be replaced by unmanned vehicles, Mr. Panteleev believes.
