Russian airline S7 Airlines has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) for the acquisition of 100 Tu-214 airliners, according to local media reports.
The deal was signed by the Managing Director of UAC, Yuri Slyusar, and the owner of the S7 Group, Vladislav Filev, on September 18, 2024, in the city of Kazan, located in the Republic of Tatarstan, where UAC produces the model of aircraft.
The Tu-214 is a modernized version of a Soviet-era design, the Tu-204.
Never a big commercial success, several dozen Tu-214s were built in different versions during the 1990s up until 2016 both for civilian and military use. However, the Tu-214 production line was resumed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions which left Russia without access to new Western-made aircraft.
Likewise, the largest Tu-214 commercial operator to date, Russian airline Red Wings, reintroduced the type in early 2024, following a six-year hiatus during which it attempted to switch to an Airbus A220 fleet.
As of September 2024, the only non-Russian airlines that use Tu-204/214 aircraft on passenger flights are North Korea’s Air Koryo and Cuba’s flag carrier, Cubana de Aviación.
Earlier in 2024, UAC said it was ready to increase production to 10 Tu-214 aircraft per year in 2025/26 and to eventually reach 20 aircraft per year after 2027.