russia Once Again Is Trying to Sell Abroad Something It Doesn’t Have

The s.p. gorbunov kazan aircraft production plant showcased the Tu-214 passenger aircraft to foreign delegations at the “russia–ASEAN” summit and announced its readiness to export the aircraft. Representatives from India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, and East Timor visited the russian manufacturer’s booth. Perhaps the airlines of those countries would be willing to purchase russian aircraft, but the actual product currently exists only in the form of promises, plans, and projects.

By the end of 2025, the manufacturer had delivered only one Tu-214 aircraft to customers. In 2024, the national carrier “Aeroflot” gave up the idea of flying these new Tu planes altogether. The original contract called for the construction of 11 aircraft by 2025, followed by another 29 by 2030. However, a severe shortage of components and engineering personnel constantly delayed the aircraft’s entry into service. As a result, “aeroflot” has never received its aircraft.

According to CEO of the united aircraft corporation of the rf vadim badekha, four Tu-214 aircraft are scheduled to be delivered this year – the very same ones they promised to assemble last year. “russia is a major aviation power. Nowhere else do they love aviation as much as they do in our country,” badekha emphasizes.

At the same time, according to estimates by russian aviation experts, their passenger air transport sector is in urgent need of about 300 aircraft of this class. Therefore, it is unclear exactly what the russians plan to export and, more importantly, from which resources. The situation is a classic case of “fraud”, where they are trying to sell customers “hot air” instead of an aircraft.

Given that the volume of russian international civil air travel is plummeting, local airlines simply lack the capacity to develop their own industry. While as recently as this past winter it was possible to fly nonstop from russia to 43 international destinations, by the start of summer the list of available countries had already shrunk to 31.