R U S S I A
A Russian return
to supersonic jets?
There are no companies making
business jets in Russia, so the local
business aviation fleet is entirely of
Western origin.
The last Russian domestic
project for an aircraft of around
the same size was the TVS-2MS, an
aircraft developed by the Chaplygin
Siberian Scientific Research
Institute Of Aviation (SIBNIA),
one of Russia’s leading research
institutions, with the aim to provide
a replacement for a well-known
Soviet An-2. While that aircraft
was not directly positioned as a
business jet, an interest to it at that
period of time was observed from
some Russian businessman and
large corporations.
Russia could have a
domestically-produced business
aircraft based on supersonic
technologies. Its development
was part of a recent order by
President Vladimir Putin to
resume commercial production
of supersonic passenger aircraft.
Moscow-based aerospace and
defence company Tupolev has been
appointed to develop the aircraft.
A Tupolev spokesperson said,
“The new business jet, will be
able to reach speeds from 1500 to
1900km/h at an altitude of 11km.
Its take-off mass will be 70 tonnes,
while the number of seats in the
cabin will be around 30.”
According to Mikhail
Mikulochkin, head of Tupolev’s
department of aviation engineering
projects, a prototype of the
supersonic aircraft will perform its
first flight in 2027 and the total cost
of the project is estimated at RUB
120 billion (US$2 billion).
Medvedev, recently
issued an order
to the national
government to demonopolize
the Russian
industry. However, the
situation is complicated
by the lack of infrastructure for
the servicing of business jets in the
majority of Russian airports, not including
those in Moscow.
According to estimates of the Russian
Civil Aviation Research Institute, since the
1990, the number of airfields for private and
general aviation in Russia that are suitable
for private aviation usage has dropped by
85%. The Institute blames the drop on the
fact that most of them were built during the
Soviet times and have become outdated.
In the meantime, Anna Serezhkina,
an executive director of the Russian
United Business Aviation Association
(RUBAA), says, “Despite
the existing problems with
infrastructure, there has been
progress in this area since
the beginning of 2000s.
“Since then the industry
has established modern
infrastructure, which
complies with the highest
international standards.”
According to Serezhkina,
the development of the
industry is ongoing thanks to
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the support provided to it by the
national government.
“In recent years the government
has made serious efforts to design
a new regulatory framework for the
industry, created conditions for the
development of domestic operators and put
an end to the monopoly of foreigners.”
She believes that Russian legislation in the field
of business aviation is very closely aligned to legislation in
the EU, while managing to provide preferential treatment to
Russian airlines and business aviation companies operating
in the domestic airspace.
Meanwhile, an official spokesman of the Russian
Ministry of Transport says that the Russian government
plans to continue the support of the industry in the
coming years, while in exchange for this, it hopes for more
active investment activities from business in the industry.
That could be in the form of the establishment of new
infrastructure to serve the needs of the Russian
industry of business aviation.
Leading Russian analysts in
the field of business aviation
predict the industry will
develop to provide services
to a wider range of
business customers,
instead of solely to the
super rich, as has been
the case in the past.
This will happen first
in central regions of
Russia and then spread
elsewhere in country
during coming years.
“The government
has made serious
efforts to design a new
regulatory framework
for the industry”
Anna Serezhkina, an executive director
of the Russian United Business
Aviation Association
Right: Pulkovo 3 airport in St
Petersburg handles business
aviation flights
Below inset: Russian Prime
Minister Dmitry Medvedev
personally oversees Russia’s
business aviation sector