The Baikal aircraft, which is to replace the An-2 "maize", is planned to be retrofitted with an electric motor. This was announced on Tuesday, July 20, by the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov at the MAKS-2021 International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky.
"We plan to retrofit [the Baikal aircraft] with an electric motor," Manturov told reporters.
The minister added that the delivery of the aircraft should begin in 2023.
On February 11, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Yuri Trutnev said that Baikal aircraft will become the main ones in the fleet of the new Far Eastern airline.
In December 2020, the executive director of the agency "Aviport" Oleg Panteleev said that one of the key problems of the An-2 aircraft is that it uses aviation gasoline as fuel. The Baikal, which is being prepared to replace it, runs on aviation kerosene, the expert noted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that in Russia in 2021, a prototype of the Baikal — a new passenger aircraft with nine seats, which is designed to replace the outdated An-2 aircraft, should be ready.