When are they planning to complete the certification of the new L-410 and will it be popular with airlines
The Cabinet of Ministers adjusted the aviation development program until 2030, postponing the delivery of Czech L-410 aircraft to the Russian Federation until 2027 (previously, both 2022 and 2023 appeared in the documents). According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the production project will be reformatted: now the car, which was produced jointly with the Czech Republic, will be created with Belarus. A new 19-seat aircraft for local airlines is planned to be certified in 2027. At the same time, Russian airlines will not suffer from the shift in delivery dates, since they did not order the L-410 for the next four years, Izvestia found out. A number of carriers have already expressed interest in the project.
Completely ours
The twin-engine L-410, designed for 19 passengers, is used for flights to remote areas in the Far East and Siberia. The car performs local transportation. The manufacturer — Czech Aircraft Industries — until the spring of 2022 belonged to the structures of the shareholders of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), sources told Izvestia. In April last year, the Czech plant was sold to a local company Omnipol, it was reported on the organization's website. In Russia, the Ural Civil Aviation Plant (UZGA) was engaged in localization of aircraft production.
At the end of August, the Russian government adjusted the parameters of the aviation industry development program until 2030, postponing the first deliveries of the Czech L-410 aircraft until 2027. This follows from the published order of the Cabinet of Ministers. In the previous version of the program, approved in the summer of 2022, deliveries of these aircraft were scheduled for 2022 and 2023 - up to 2030, 20 aircraft per year.
Layout of the L-410 UVP-E20 turboprop aircraft
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Maishev
As the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation told Izvestia, the L-410 project will be reformatted into a new one — a Russian-Belarusian board for 19 seats will be created.
— Before the EU imposed sanctions on the domestic aircraft industry, the L-410 project was implemented jointly with the Czech company Aircraft Industry. Currently, the pre-existing aircraft import substitution program has been reformatted and expanded. Now, within the framework of a joint Russian-Belarusian project, a 19-seater car will be created, which will rely on developments on the import-substituted L—410," the representative of the ministry said.
The aircraft will receive a new airframe and a number of components, the Ministry of Industry and Trade specified. Development work on this project and certification will take several years — it is planned to complete the process in 2027, the department added.
More unknowns
At the same time, according to the UZGA, Russian airlines will not suffer from the shift in terms, since they did not order the L-410 for delivery in 2022-2026.
— UZGA had no contracts for the supply of this aircraft to airlines during the specified period. Deliveries to Russian airlines last year were also not carried out due to the lack of orders," a representative of the plant told Izvestia.
The aviation industry development program featured 18 aircraft with delivery in 2022 (and it was claimed that four aircraft arrived in the first quarter of the year).
L-410 aircraft
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Evgeny Biyatov
But Russian operators demonstrate serious interest in the future import-substituted Russian-Belarusian aircraft, the press secretary of the UZGA says. At the same time, the plant will continue to support airlines with spare parts, tools and equipment for the operation of the existing L-410 fleet within the framework of concluded contracts, the interlocutor concluded.
The airlines interviewed by Izvestia do not know much about the future aircraft yet. A request was received from UZGA to discuss the tactical and technical requirements for the project, said Semyon Kharitonov, Deputy Director for Development of Polar Airlines.
"If implemented within an acceptable time frame and at a reasonable cost, this project is undoubtedly of interest," he said.
While it is premature to talk about its serial production, as well as about orders for this aircraft, Vadim Yurkov, a representative of Khabarovsk Airlines, told Izvestia.
Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Oleg Bocharov previously reported that this aircraft will be with a non-retractable landing gear. Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko in an interview with Russian media also noted that the new aircraft will fly at distances up to 1.2 thousand km and will be in demand from regional airlines in the republic.
Operation of L-410
With the use of the L-410, Russian airlines are now experiencing more and more difficulties due to the presence of imported components in these aircraft, despite the fact that the level of localization of production at UZGA was supposed to reach 72% by 2021. The second carrier in the Russian Federation, the Kamchatka Aviation Enterprise Company (CAP, is part of the unified Far Eastern carrier Aurora), has already refused to operate them, RBC wrote . At the beginning of the year, Komiaviatrans from Komi stopped using the L-410. According to the publication, seven more regional carriers in the Russian Federation use these aircraft, among them Polar Airlines and Khabarovsk Airlines.
The development strategy of Polar Airlines for the period up to 2032 (approved by the company's board of directors in March 2020) did not provide for the purchase of new L-410s, said Semyon Kharitonov. Now there are five such boards in the carrier's fleet.
— In the segment of air transportation with a passenger capacity of up to 19 seats, it was planned to purchase the TVS-2DTS, which was previously developed by the Chaplygin SibNIA as an aircraft with up to 14 seats. But since 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has entrusted the conduct of R&D on the aircraft for local air lines to Baikal Engineering (UZGA's daughter)," Kharitonov explained the lack of an order for the L-410.
The interlocutor explains the appearance of this aircraft in the aviation program until 2030 with "great hopes from fellow operators" for the imminent release of its localized version in the Russian Federation.
Passenger aircraft Let L-410
Image Source: Photo: TASS/Sergey Medvedev
Like other carriers, Polar Airlines is currently experiencing limited access to the pool of spare parts and components for this aircraft, difficulties with updating operational documentation. The problem is being gradually solved by the development of logistics schemes, mainly through friendly countries, Semyon Kharitonov added.
— The remaining resources for L‑410UVP-E allow their planned operation until 2029. Now they operate flights on the socially significant Magan – Oymyakon – Magan route once a week. Also, urgent sanitary tasks are performed on this type," the interlocutor clarified.
Khabarovsk Airlines told Izvestia that they were going to purchase two L-410s from UZGA in 2023, but due to the current geopolitical situation and sanctions, these plans were revised. Currently, cooperation with UZGA is limited to the overhaul of this type of aircraft: in June, the carrier received one repaired car, in September it sent another one to the factory.
— This type of aircraft is used by us for flights almost all over the Khabarovsk Territory: from the regional center to Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Ayan, Chegdomyn, Bogorodskoye, Herpuchi, Chumikan, Sovetskaya Gavan and others, — said the representative of the airline Vadim Yurkov.
Aurora, KAP, Siberian Light Aviation, the 2nd Arkhangelsk United Aviation Squadron, Gazprom Avia, Aeroservice and KrasAvia did not respond to requests from Izvestia.
As Oleg Panteleev, Executive Director of Aviport, emphasized, Aircraft Industry was bringing the next generation of the aircraft under discussion to the market at the turn of decades — the L-410 NG (New Generation) — and Russian airlines were interested in it. But it would be more profitable to purchase them if the model was already localized.
Layout of the turboprop aircraft L 410 UVP-E20
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Alexey Maishev
— The trouble is that the Czechs, before the sanctions were imposed, could not agree on the localization of L-410NG production at UZGA. The negotiations were intense — and they would have ended favorably if not for restrictive measures. And if we talk about the old version — 410UVP-E20, UZGA reported that more than 2/3 of the project was localized, but airframe units were transported from the Czech Republic," the expert recalls.
Now, according to the project of the Russian-Belarusian aircraft, it has been decided to adjust its aerodynamic scheme in order to lighten the airframe. In addition, developments on Baikal will be used for it — primarily on the power plant (VK-800SM) and avionics. The final assembly can be organized in Belarus, Panteleev believes, since the president of this republic, Alexander Lukashenko, recently made statements about the "crazy idea" of deepening the production of civil aircraft in the country.
Anastasia Lvova
